Axing for a friend - Social, Closed, Scarlet, Hoshi

[Hoshi]

Ahhh to have a body, this is truly the pinnacle of existing~ I gotta go to the new Indian joint that opened up! I've heard their spiciest curry is to die for! . . . And may literally kill you as there is a waiver. BUT I CAN HANDLE IT! Hoshi was all but skipping his way through the shopping district towards Naanstop. Having only recently acquired a body Hoshi was taking almost all his paychecks and spending them on food if he wasn't actively going to Kitai or spending to help fix the structures or areas he destroyed. Just because he HAD to burn and melt things, didn't mean he was an asshole. Though he did wonder how that might affect the Shinigami if he could go into the Seireitei and melt their buildings. Easier said than done for certain but maybe down the road he could consider it. For now, though he was happily making his way towards the restaurant.



As he was skipping to where he wanted out of the corner of his eyes, he swore he saw someone he recognized. Not an uncommon occurrence as Hoshi did work at a few different places. Or rather had worked at a few different places. Namely places he'd damaged in the process of working for Xcution. However, he swore he caught sight of red hair. And not like, normal red hair. But like bright cherry red hair, kinda akin to hir left arm and legs. Something about the hair color really poked and prodded at Hoshi's mind. He couldn't put the person to a name and thus Hoshi took a second to pull out his phone and look at the time. It read 1:23pm. I still have plenty of time to go to Naanstop. They don't close till 6 anyway. Sides, if I know them maybe they'll join me for curry! TIME TO STA- Ahhh . . . ooo . . . maybe not "stalk" but uhhh follow? Hmmm . . . not much better. Ehhhh AHAH! Find them! Yes, that's what we'll say! Time to find them!



Hoshi then turned on a dime, bumped into a couple folk, apologized, and then began running after Scarlet. It took him a few minutes as the woman could make her way through a crowd with ease it seemed, and Hoshi was kind of . . . on the wrong side of the street and was fighting against the current. It took Hoshi several minutes before he realized that he may fare better if he could sneak to the other side of the street and thus started to bob and weave his way in between people and finally managed to get on the opposite "current" of people. Scarlet was now much farther ahead than him and he was still going to have to weave his way through a bunch of people to get to her. . . which wasn't likely. If he didn't do something soon, he'd lose her. And he wasn't about to start jumping on rooftops or air grounding his way to victory just to meet up with someone. His boss would kill him for doing that in broad daylight. Hoshi struggled to think of how he might get her attention in a not creepy or concerning way.



ARGH! This is too much thinking to meet up with someone! And definitely too much a fucking hassle. Sorry in advance friend but I'm going to have to call you out. I'll make it up to you by buying you lunch. Hoshi took a second to take a deep breath and then as he was trying to push his way through the crowd he yelled at the top of his lungs towards Scarlet's direction. "HEY YOU RED-HEAD! YES, I MEAN YOU, THE ONE WHO ACTUALLY HITS THE GYM! NO, BITCH NOT YOU, YOU HAVEN'T EATEN A REAL MEAL IN AGES! I MEAN YOU, THE ONE WITH BRUISES SHOWING JUST ABOVE YOUR COLLAR AND WITH SOME MUSCLE ON THEIR BODY! YES, YOU, REDDY! HOLD UP FOR A MOMENT I WANT TO SPEAK WITH YOU!" Needless to say. . . Hoshi had practically stopped the crowds on both sides momentarily as they were wondering who was yelling for who and just what was reason to call out someone.



Hoshi's face was bright red in embarrassment as he continued to make his way over. Almost tripping along the way, a couple times. Assuming Scarlet looked his way he'd immediately recognize her and wave at her as he smiled wide. If she didn't look at him or do anything he'd grow worried as he kept trying to catch up to her hoping all the while he didn't piss her off. Or worse, super embarrass her. Please please please PLEASE be willing to forgive me for yelling out like that over food. I promise there's good restaurants here! Still, if its who I think it is, they should be alright. I mean they killed hollows after all! Being called out for in a crowd should be nothing right? Right? Fuck me, she's going to be pissed, isn't she? Damnit, so much for my second first impression!

[Scarlet]

“Ugh eat and sleep, eat and sleep that’s all you need to do Hikari. All you need to do now. Just go home so you can eat and sleep.”

Hikari kept on repeating to herself as she walked along the sidewalk of the Karakura streets. It had only been a few days since the massive onslaught of turkey Hollows. Perhaps the onslaught was too much though, while they had attacked various things and people throughout Karakura, they hadn’t really killed more than one or two civilians. Still too many for it to be acceptable yet compared to the number of them all at once, it could have been astronomically worse than it ended up being.

Still, she’d been beaten enough that laying on the street and bleeding was the result. She’d managed to take down enough of the strange hollows that she couldn’t count them all on one hand, yet it wasn’t something she could be proud about. She’d seen Tala eliminate Hollows much worse and nearly as many with just a wave of his zanpakuto. Although she was aware how much better she’d gotten at using her Fullbring without the power she was starting to shift into despair. She wouldn’t be able to save or protect enough with what she could currently do.

She’d already worked her shift at the cafe and was on her way back home now, the second half of her day over the last few months was normally dedicated to training. Whether it be physically or spiritually. Physically she was in better shape than she ever would have believed possible. Not only were her biceps larger along with her quads and calf muscles. The largest shift though and the one she couldn’t stop obsessing over until the attack. Well that had to be the six pack that almost seemed abnormal on her stomach.

She’d been physically fit before her powers awakened and yet now she most seemed like a body builder despite her size. Now being able to chop down a tree in a single swing, to possess the physical strength to literally rip apart tree bark and logs without any real problem. These were things that until recently stayed in the realm of superhero fantasy. Despite all that though she still had been basically useless compared to many others. She had to figure out how she could close the gap between what she could do right now and how well others like Amare were able to handle a situation like that.

That's when Hikari heard the shouting of someone behind her and turned, she saw the individual shouting at her and vaguely recognized him. He was the burning guy who’d helped her in that bad situation. She’d been so drained and hurt that him being on fire hadn’t even stoked the fear in her heart. Now though she was awake and aware and now pissed off. “Why the fuck is he screaming!” She screamed inside her own head as she starts walking over to him ready to start smacking that loud mouth of his.

[Hoshi]

Hoshi was happy that he'd managed to catch the red heads attention. Genuinely so and he was finally actually making progress to reach her which was even better! There was however, one itty bitty problem that he very quickly realized. Scarlet was almost certainly pissed off and as she got closer Hoshi realized how jacked she was. Hoshi's mind immediately screamed and his smile and expression rapidly paled as he realized something. I'm not in my star form. . . . And she's strong in the physical sense. Which to be fair, yea as woman who wielded a hand axe, that's fair. In fact, sort of expected really. HOWEVER, IF SHE PUNCHES ME THIS BODY WILL BREAK. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT DO I DO?!?!?!?! WHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDOWHATDOIDO?!?!?!?!!?

Hoshi was practically visibly panicking despite his legs still bringing him ever closer to the woman who was inevitably going to pile drive his "pretty boy" ass into the ground. He really should have put more thought into this because he was but a minute, at the most, from his immediate death. And it was all his fault. WAIT I CAN FIX THIS. SHE'S GOTTA EAT TO MAINTAIN LET ALONE HAVE THOSE MUSCLES! I JUST GOTTA START OFF THE CONVERSATION WITH FOOD AND THEN SLIP IN AN APOLOGY! THIS CAN WORK! I COULD NOT DIE OR AT LEAST NOT HAVE THIS GIGAI DIE! When Scarlet was about 10 feet away, he spoke up, loud enough to be overheard but not yelling like he had earlier to grab her attention. "H-hello again! N-now I can see that you're made, I would be too if some idiot yelled out for me in the middle of nowhere. . . . especially if said idiot wasn't someone you knew personally. ANYWAY MY RAMBLING ASIDE, if you'd be so kind here me out, I can make it up to you!"

"I was already out here for lunch at a place called Naanstop, it's a really good Indian joint I've heard about. If you could find it within your musc- I mean yourself to not bury me into the concrete . . . or worse . . . I will HAPPILY buy you whatever you want there. I just got paid so you can go as hard as you want on the food. . . Or ya know, anywhere else if uhhh Indian isn't your thing. What do ya say?" Hoshi was all but shaking both in voice and physically as he or Scarlet got within punching distance. And by punching distance, he meant immediate death sentence distance as again, he could see the frustration or anger on Scarlet's face, and he was VERY adamant about trying to A. Not fuck this up. (He'd failed that spectacularly thus far.) and B. Die in general. Let alone in a crowd of onlookers. For all he knew, one of his supervisors or coworkers could be there and he'd be laughed at for this. Let alone get in trouble if he caused too big a scene.

Regardless Hoshi put up his one arm in a show of "Please don't kill me, I'm stupid" and put on a shaky very embarrassed and concerned for his life kind of smile. And against all odds if Scarlet didn't yet speak anything he'd find his mouth speaking again. Hell, even if Scarlet did speak, he'd find himself speaking after her anyway, regardless of what she said. Thankfully she was likely much closer now and he wouldn't need to yell or speak up for her to hear. "I. . . Listen, it's easy to see I'm not that smart. There was probably many, MANY other ways to get your attention or catch up to you but aaahh I couldn't think up anything. Sans maybe throwing something at you, and I figured you'd like that even less. Hell, if I'd had your name or something else, I'd have contacted you another way, but I didn't.

I'm sorry. For yelling at you and being embarrassing to you. And while I definitely deserve to be merged with the concrete, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't. Honestly, I just wanted to talk with you since I saw you go up against the turkey hollows, but I didn't have the chance then. So uhhh if it's all the same to you, please don't break my skull whether you want to grab food or not." Hoshi stopped for a moment before speaking even more quietly since Scarlet was an intimidating woman to say the least. "But really I do want to chat and get to know ya just a bit but uhhhh . . . ya know if now's not a good time, I can wait until it is a good time for ya. . . If there is one."

[Scarlet]

Not only did this idiot start to shout in front of random people on the street at her, he actually made sure to refer to her by her hair. Basically the same way that she had been teased while she’d been a girl in school here in Japan. Bringing up bad memories fueled bad emotions and Hikari was on her way now pushing her way through the people in the street in order to get to this guy right away and shut him up. She’d been training basically non-stop for several months now and while she loved the shift in her physical body, having a guy shout about it on the street wasn’t a compliment, at least not the way he was doing it.

She really felt like the moment she got to him a smack across his face wasn’t even going to be enough, she knew he was spiritual and strong enough to handle those turkey Hollows. So she didn’t have to hold back or at least not as much. She could hit him with close to her full strength without breaking him. He had to be sturdier than a tree right? She was strong enough now that a single punch broke tree bark and cracked the flesh of the tree easily. Surely someone that could handle multiple Hollows wouldn’t be brought down by that little bit of power.

She was right there ready at any moment now to either smack him across the face or punch him right in the chest. Her karate lessons had been going well now that she was taking them again so she was certain that even if he was sturdy and could take it, well he wouldn’t die or get seriously injured. That’s when she started to speak once again so fast she struggled to actually process everything he was saying while it was loud enough that felt the urge to hit him.

"H-hello again! N-now I can see that you're made, I would be too if some idiot yelled out for me in the middle of nowhere. . . . especially if said idiot wasn't someone you knew personally. ANYWAY MY RAMBLING ASIDE, if you'd be so kind here me out, I can make it up to you! I was already out here for lunch at a place called Naanstop, it's a really good Indian joint I've heard about. If you could find it within your musc- I mean yourself to not bury me into the concrete . . . or worse . . . I will HAPPILY buy you whatever you want there. I just got paid so you can go as hard as you want on the food. . . Or ya know, anywhere else if uhhh Indian isn't your thing. What do ya say?"

“My god you need to shut up.”

Hikari really couldn’t believe how much this guy spoke or rather yelled cause that’s how it felt with her being so close to him now. Although it didn’t normally bother her Hikari turned her head from side to side and could see that quite a few of the other people on the street had stopped and now were looking at the both of them. Staring at them as if they were a couple that had broken up and he was trying to get a second chance. Although she put herself on the line to protect everyone everyday right now she was struggling to not just start lashing out both verbally and physically at everyone around her.

Releasing a sigh of exhaustion and fury Hikari waved her arm from her side up in a half care way. “Fine lead on and we’ll figure this out, but if you start yelling again I will lose it.” She wasn’t really sure why this guy wanted to see her or speak with her. They didn’t know each other, the only thing either of them would know about the other was that they were spiritually aware and possessed powers of some kind. Hikari would actually know more about him then the other way around since she hadn’t yet awakened her Fullbring completely when she’d fought those Hollows.

[Hoshi]

Hoshi's heart rate was spiking ever higher as he continued to just word vomit to Scarlet in an ever-growing attempt to not be decked through the ground and into the sewers. Still, he had to admit, he kinda earned it. Still once she'd told him to shut up, he'd functionally been tied up physically and mentally as he just stood there waiting to see what'd happen next. Thankfully, there was a deity of some kind looking after him, that or the crowd of people were. Regardless, she neither smacked the shit outta him nor did she even yell back at him. Again, definitely deserved if she had. If he had to guess she was just as embarrassed as him about having this conversation in public after his display to try and catch her attention. Karma was definitely going to kick his ass later but as that wasn't right now, he'd be making the best of it.

Once she motioned for Hoshi to lead the way he smiled wide and basically hopped over then met her stride. "You got it. It's actually pretty close to here believe it or not. About a couple blocks down and on the right. Best part, we don't even have to wait for a table as I reserved one in advance. My coworker actually said that was the best way to get a table here because otherwise the line is long. Still, that's gotta mean they have good food yea? Hehe, I don't know about you but I'm definitely going to order the hottest thing they've got there. I want to see how spicy it is, and another thing I've heard is that their spiciest actually requires a waiver of some sort. Crazy yea?" Somehow or another despite basically never keeping his eyes off Scarlet Hoshi never ran into anyone and didn't even focus on the path ahead.

Yet all the same, he stopped at a crossroad without bumping into another person. And started walking again as those in front of him started walking. While Hoshi was evidently still tense given, he was next to Scarlet, and she was basically a brick shit house next to his thin unathletic build he was far more relaxed than earlier as he continued to just chat about things in general. "So yea, again I'm sorry about all that. Ya never came around the office, so I wasn't certain I'd ever see ya again. And I was interested to know more about someone who could wield an axe. Most of the folk I know are kinda pansies who can't take a hit haha! Or they train but they only do so up to a point and its usually because they use guns or some other long-range weapon. So, a fellow melee combatant like yourself was interesting. Plus, you didn't freak out when ya saw me! Which is a bit odd all things considered but you were kinda worn out so maybe that's why."

Hoshi just shrugged as he looked forward and saw "Naanstop". The line was in fact long as it looked like there were many who were waiting. Thank god his coworker had him make a reservation. He owed the guy a soda or some other snack when he got back. A quick glance and smile at Scarlet and he motioned for her to just walk straight up to the doors. "Seems we are in luck with that reservation, eh? Hehe. If you feel uncomfortable in a crowd, feel free to wait out here, the inside is likely also busy but if not, ya can follow me in. Oh, before I forget, my names Hoshi. Dunno if you remember but either way now, ya know. Anyway, I'll be right back!" Hoshi practically ran past the line of bodies about as ungracefully as possible. While he wasn't trying to bump into people it seemed like the restaurant was a bit more packed than it otherwise would have been. Thus a few apologies were had, and a few looks given but he made it into the building.

Once there he saw the front of house woman and immediately spoke up. "Hello there! I have a reservation for Hoshi, though I made a mistake on the reservation and only asked for a single person. I actually have another with me. Would that be alright to bring them in also?" Hoshi tried to plead as best he could and express that he was sorry for the problem but the lady behind the counter was already too tired from the day and current rush. She simply sighed and gave him a nod. Hoshi smiled and then would walk out the door if Scarlet stayed outside. If she was with him, he'd simply motion for her to follow the front of house. He'd then follow behind Scarlet as they were led to a booth, given menus, and silverware before the head of front left. Hoshi all the while was giddy as could be glad, he was finally here and more than happy to have a hopefully, new friend to be there with him also. For now, though Hoshi simply looked and pondered over the menu, letting Scarlet either start the conversation or otherwise look over the menu as well.

[Scarlet]

Damn this guy just couldn’t stop talking now could he? Hikari actually had to try and remember the last time she came across someone that seemed to just vomit words out this much. It’d been a long enough time that she believed it would have been back when she was in school. How this guy could just keep talking over and over again when they hadn’t even really brought up something important like the incident that both of them had taken a part of. Had she really been hanging out with people so little that she found speaking strange? Lately she’d just been training and fighting Hollows to save everyone, but beyond her coworkers and mother she didn’t really speak to anyone. She’d really have to make it a point to try and talk more if this was something that seemed out of the norm now. Why didn’t he just lead the way though? He didn’t really need to keep talking more and more on the way did he?

Thankfully though he started to actually talk about things that Hikari could get a bit of information about or had an easier time focusing on at the least. Learning that this guy was part of a group that didn’t typically use melee weapons was both a good thing and bad in her opinion. She knew there wasn’t a problem with learning about everyone else in Karakura and even further that had powers, but it was a little disappointing that others didn’t prioritize such an important part of combat. Sure one could handle most Hollows and probably others things with a gun just like police do with criminals yet it seemed like an obvious flaw to Hikari. She hadn’t been involved with the spiritual environment for long and yet already knew about how Hollows and others could either disappear and reappear or actually teleport from one spot to another. If one could only rely on distance than weren’t they just giving the Hollows a better chance of devouring them?

Hikari hadn’t really seen this guy fight against the Turkey’s but based on what he was saying right now with his admittedly loud voice, she could surmise he was one to fight up close. He seemed unnervingly excited about the fact she employed an axe though. It was strange although she couldn’t really pin down why. She knew that Shinigami used swords, but was it really so uncommon for someone to use a different sort of weapon? Sighing a bit while listening to him Hikari came to the conclusion that this guy was going to take up quite a bit of her energy. He had no visible weapon on him and she couldn’t remember seeing one on him when he’d saved her from the overwhelming number of turkey’s so him fighting in melee meant he likely used his body. Strange again though, he didn’t fit the typical mindset of a martial artist especially for a young man. Hikari hadn’t been going to her dojo lately, but most of the guys around his age based on his appearance were much more headstrong or visibly muscular.

“Not sure why I’d freak out in a situation as crazy as that was already. Couldn’t have really gotten much worse so thanks for helping me out. What’s your name by the way? I can’t recall you telling me before.”

Today really was shaping up to be a pig of energy as the shop this guy wanted to check out was packed. Hikari kept going along with him although she had her doubts. Thankfully though it seemed he wasn’t pulling her leg and managed to come through although she felt a bit off about getting a seat right away when there were others that had been waiting. Working in the food industry as well she’d learned what it was like. A rush like this wasn’t something to enjoy so she’d do her best to make things run smoothly for the employees and just hope they didn’t cause any sort of problems with how loud this guy seemed to speak. Hikari for a moment had a visible flash of a broken speaker and just grinned. Perhaps he’d taken a blow to the head in the past and his volume setting was broken.

Hikari had no problem following Hoshi and learned a little bit more about him, although he definitely wasn’t quiet it seemed he could move easily through a large group. It was starting to seem more plausible that he fought with his hands instead of a weapon although Hikari didn’t want to jump to conclusions and still wondered just what was the reason for all this. She didn’t have a problem meeting and talking with others that were spiritually aware, especially those that helped her, but Hoshi just seemed different. It was almost like he was too nervous or didn’t get how interactions typically went. Like a homeschool kid that gets dropped off at a party. Inhaling as she walks, Hikari tries to refocus her mind. “Stop remember don’t judge or make assumptions based on appearance. He’s a little weird and wild, but he helped. Just hear him out.”

Getting a table was easy, and while she was going to look over the menu and see what could attract such a line of admission she was more curious about Hoshi and why he seemed so outgoing when he found her. Both of them sitting at the booth now almost seemed opposites and in her eyes it was quite funny. She was dressed in her athletic attire while Hoshi looked like he was walking right out of the feudal era. She couldn’t really spot anything about what either of them were wearing that matched the other. Her hair was on the shorter side and red, while he managed to grow out quite an immense length of snow white. “Do you mind if I ask you some questions Hoshi? How did you manage to handle all the Hollows? What’s this group you mentioned before?”

[Hoshi]

Hoshi sat happily humming to himself as he looked over the menu, giving Hikari some time to herself. He couldn't really help but word vomit when he was nervous and in a way, he was trying to convince her to not only be friends with him. But maybe give Xcution a try. Hoshi was strong enough but not necessarily a great. . . recruiter. So, he was pretty nervous in general. Still, she seemed pretty good with him so far, sans maybe him constantly speaking and being louder than he actually meant to be. Note to self, calm down a little. Or at least speak normally. The jitters are strong but so am I! And I'M THE STAR OF THIS SHOW. So, let's take things down a notch. Hoshi continued to hum and sway his head a bit as he continued looking over the different foods. Completely forgetting he was paying for the two of them.

However once Hikari spoke up Hoshi immediately stopped humming and looked up at her. Mind empty as he simply stared while she spoke to him. His mind then restarted and he remembered he'd never answered her question from earlier. So worried in the moment that he just kinda. . . sorta. . . maybe talked over her . . . He mentally groaned at that revelation. He then took a deep breath and forcibly calmed himself down. Noticeably so given even his voice was back to being normal talking level. "Sure thing, however let me answer your question from earlier. I've uhh been kinda nervous in general since I uhhh. . . well . . . Since I pulled a stupid stunt to get your attention. AGH. Sorry again about that. I just couldn't think of anything else to do to grab your attention in a crowd. I didn't know your name, still don't."

"Anyway, as for my name, its Hoshi. Just that, no last name and no middle name. It's because I'm not human as you likely guessed last time. Though that is the goal, to be human or as close to human as possible anyway. But more importantly, it's because my powers change my appearance and I look nothing short of a flaming undead monster. Sure, turkey hollows are kinda crazy but it's not quite the same level of crazy as what I turn into. Then again, you probably couldn't see me clearly because I create a lot of light when I'm on fire. Either way, it's a strange, but pleasant surprise. I'm not up for scaring anyone normally. Also don't mention it! I wanted to help out anyway, before even realizing you had a cool as hell melee weapon. As for how I handled the hollows I beat them up and burnt them to ash. Some of them died of intense heat before I got there but you know how it is with hollows. Double tap is the golden rule, so I shattered their skulls and masks just to be safe."

Hoshi then took a breath and thought about how he was going to talk about Xcution. It was pretty visible on his face that he wasn't certain how to talk about it when they were supposed to be more "underground" now. Literally and figuratively. It was really annoying now. Still, he got moments break when their waitress came up and asked for their drinks. "I'd like to get a mango lassi please. And a water too. If it's alright with you, I'd also like to get a copy of the waiver ya'll hand out. I'm going to be ordering the spiciest thing on the menu or well. . . asking for my meal to be as spicy as possible. But yea that'll be it for me, what about you?" He looked over at Hikari and would wait patiently for her order to be placed and then would wait a bit longer to make sure that the waitress was gone before he started to speak again.

Hoshi took another breath to keep himself calm and even put on a more serious expression when he started speaking. "The group I'm with is called Xcution. I know, I know it sounds bad and with its spelling honestly it kinda makes you think it's bad. I mean who names their group "X"cution. Whatever. Bad names aside, it's a group of spiritual mercenaries more or less. I'm in charge of a few folks there and was recruited by the leader of the group awhile back. I think it's been a couple years now? But more or less we handle spiritual matters. Typically, it involves fighting and at my level it's more a matter of we get missions to either deal with spiritual matters external or internal to the organization.

External being someone hired us to take on something. Like the various hollows that scope out Karakura for example. I frequently go on rounds to keep an eye out and kill them before they cause trouble. Other jobs, such as internal missions, are more like dealing with . . . well spies are a good example. Shingami, specifically Soul Society and the Gotei 13, are not fond of other organizations that are spiritually aware, let alone capable. So, they spy on us and occasionally try to stop us from doing our jobs. Fights happen, data can be lost, things of that nature. Feel free to ask me anything that comes to mind, I'm not the highest-ranking person but I can speak to the general state of things."

[Scarlet]

“It’s in the past, I didn’t like it and don’t do it again, but we don’t have any reason to bring it back up now. You can call me Scarlet.”

Although it was kinda rude, Scarlet pushed in that little remark after Hoshi had started talking and apologized for what he had done, but introduced herself by her nickname based on her hair that she’d actually just recently accepted as the name those involved in the spiritual community would describe her as anyway. She didn’t love that she was going to use the name that was thrown at her when she’d been younger to bully her, but it was better than something else like lava girl or axe. One of which she’d actually been called by a different Fullbringer recently. Listening to what Hoshi said about himself and what he did to the Hollows gave her the indication that he really was a giant goofball with either insane raw power or a power even more intense then her own.

Either way she couldn’t judge him simply due to the fact he had saved people including her with his power even if by his own words it made him into something that would normally be seen as evil. “Well that clears up what I remember seeing then. So you’re one of those pills right? Basically an android or robot, how can you go about being more human than you are right now in that body?” Scarlet, having incredibly limited knowledge on Mod Souls after only meeting one of them a few months ago, didn't have much to go on. All she knew was that Hoshi looked mostly human although the over the top appearance marked him as someone she wouldn’t typically hang out with since he would draw eyes even more than she would with her hair.

Scarlet listened to what Hoshi ordered and for some reason she didn’t mind what he actually said and when it was time for her to order she made it short and easy. She didn’t want to put in the effort of looking over the menu so fast that she’d make a mistake so she’d say just two words. “Same thing.” Scarlet wasn’t sure if she could handle the spiciest thing on the menu, but she could handle her way around that type of food and didn’t mind it. So that’s what would happen and if she happened to bite into a reaper pepper than god forbid the poor Hollow that was going to be a punching bag for her in the near future. “So I’m talking to a merc with a heart? Damn don’t tell me I’m in a cheesy 80’s American action film right now.”

[Hoshi]

Hoshi let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Both from relief at Scarlets acceptance of his stupid stunt and that he finally had a name to call her by. . . Though there was a stray thought that held some concerns over if she'd pummel him in public should he call her Scarlet in a crowd again. . . He wasn't keen on finding out but at least he could make an argument that she only told him to call him that. Still with that said he listened to her talk and ask questions his way. Not many but they were relevant ones. One with regards to himself. Huh, she's asking a lotta questions about me. I wonder if I'm just that interesting or if this is that information gathering that the safety meeting warned about? Ugh. I don't know. I guess I'll just have to apologize if she is getting information from me. At least it's not something that will really bite Xcution in the ass. She doesn't even know where we operate from at this point.

Hoshi thought on how to respond to her. He had a few thoughts on her questions but couldn't know where he truly wanted to start. He figured he'd just work his way backwards as he shrugged to her final question and spoke up to answer her. "So I'll be honest with you, I'd actually say I'm fairly heartless both for the fact I literally don't have a heart. And hurting the gigai's won't do anything to me. As well as that I've definitely killed folks in a less than "quick" way. Mind you, that's almost exclusively given to shinigami. They tried to kill me and basically succeeded had Xcution not helped me out. So, you can imagine how I'd be much less willing to play nice with them. That said, just because I work for mercenaries doesn't mean I'm an asshole. I just do what I can to pay back the organization for saving me and give everyone that isn't on the black and white the chance to be friends with me. Or at least have a working relationship. Life has enough problems, who wants more of them from your work? It'd fucking suck haha!"

"As for myself, yea I'm a "Mod Soul" or Modified Soul. The pill is my core as you already know. Hmmm. . . As far as robot or android are concerned. . . I'm neither? Sure, there's some spiritual tech involved but really if I had to pick a label, I'm more like a sentient magic object. Spiritual stuff is functionally magic as far as I'm concerned." He shrugged again as he explained about his being to Scarlet. "Truth is, I'm actually not certain how to be "more" human. I'm currently waiting for the nerds at the organization to tell me. It's more or less just a request I made as I don't like being . . . well not "living" and more of a tool.

Which to be fair . . . Is kinda what I was made to be. More so weapon than tool but for Soul Society its one and the same really. Honestly, I may never be human, and that'd suck, but it's a dream ya know? Something to strive for even if it ain't possible. So, I'll keep doing my thing, asking the nerds for help, and seeing if I can't make enough friends to piece together something if it's at all possible. If not, well I'll still be me, hopefully, so it's not all bad. ANYWAY though, enough about me, what about you Scarlet? I don't mean to be rude but honestly, I'm kinda curious about yourself. Like I said, it isn't common for me to see melee focused types. Let alone with axes haha!"

"If I had to guess you may even do something similar to me given, I think you had a fire axe right? So, you've gotta be a fire related gal! If not though, that's fine I just have a bias towards fire powers haha! But yea what do you do? And what is someone like you up to in this place? Karakura is a spiritual hub for all sorts of stuff, namely hollows and other spiritual issues to show up. I'd actually be surprised if you're not involved with any organizations of a spiritual nature as being solo can be pretty dangerous here. Mind you, if you are good on, ya but I still stand by that it'd be fun to work with ya sometime. So hopefully you'll consider it. Also, just for my sake, is it safe to say you're human? If so, you're probably a fullbringer. From what I know anyway. Last I checked you didn't have a bow or summon some monster, so it seems likely to me but ya never know."

[Scarlet]

Sitting there in order to listen to everything that Hoshi said was a lot for Scarlet. It wasn’t like Hoshi was saying anything she really disagreed with or found boring. It wasn’t that she had a problem with him or anything that he really said. The only part that actually brought up any sort of alarm was him admitting that he didn’t really care when it came down to him killing others. Normally this would be enough for her to smack the shit out of him right away. For some reason though instead she didn’t believe herself any better. She brought down Hollows all the time because they would kill other humans. So was she really any better than him who hated Shinigami for what they did to him and his kind?

Sighing when he finished speaking, Scarlet tried to gather everything up that he’d just said while waiting for what they’d ordered to save her from rambling on in response. “Ok so Xcution are basically mercs, but they follow what they’re hired to do without any bias. You’re a Mod Soul that wants to be more human. You’re sorta like a jock asshole, but haven’t committed all the way to that personally yet. That's most of what I gathered through that heavy pile of words.”

Scarlet shook her head questioning how she’d ended up in a situation like this and yet without thinking at all she knew everything came back to her own decisions. Hoshi wasn’t bad enough to attack as he didn’t go after normal people, he’d stopped some of those turkey Hollows and he’d stepped in to keep them from eating her. “Ugh life is so frustrating so often. Alright Pinocio. Yes I’m a Fullbringer. I don’t have a fire axe though. It’s made of lava so it's more badass. I’ve got a group that’s trying to get me to join, but I wouldn’t be opposed to checking out this Xcution. Don’t tell me everyone is brooding or needlessly loud.” Scarlet stopped talking and pointed at Hoshi to indicate she was referring to him. “What’s this about a bow or summoning a monster though?”

[Hoshi]

As Scarlet sat and thought over things that Hoshi had said the waitress returned with both the drinks and the food. Though the food wasn't served as she had to get signatures from both Hoshi and Scarlet, given they'd both ordered the hottest thing on the menu. Hoshi's eyes went wide like dinner plates as he was so infinitely ready for this meal. He didn't even wait to take the paper and sign it. He immediately pulled out a pen from his Kimono and signed away his life on the paper. Once the waitress took it, she set his bowl of jasmine rice, phaal curry, and a pitcher of water for him. She would then wait for Scarlet to sign off on her order. In the meantime, Hoshi started to consume the curry with vigor.

Almost immediately his taste buds and by extension his stomach was lit on fire. The flavors and smells were definitely present but holy shit he swore he was eating literal fire. His tongue, throat, even mouth as a whole were just burning with a fury. And worse yet he'd started to sweat not but a few bites in as his face went from pale white to a deep flushed red as he just kept shoveling more and more curry into his body. His stomach started to ache and growl out at him for the tragedy that was the inferno inside it and in retaliation attempted to give Hoshi some degree of heartburn. Only for Hoshi to just take a moment to down an entire glass of water, followed by another and then continuing with his meal. This might be the first time I ever actually regret doing something. If I understand correctly, human bodies can only handle so much spice before they simply just . . . do not handle it. Oooohooohooohoo, let's see what Xcution's gigai's can FUCKING DO!

Hoshi noticed only shortly thereafter that the waitress was gone, and Scarlet had spoken to him. Inevitably speaking about his general demeanor and generalizing Xcution. In truth, she was pretty on point aside from the Asshole Jock comment. In his personal, and frankly correct opinion, he was a good guy for the most part. Yeah, he fucked over shinigami with the fury of a woman scorned but they had it coming to them. As for anyone else? He felt he was more like the morning sun. Annoying, present, but ultimately a good influence and part of everyone's days . . . except when he burnt the world around him on accident. . . That MAY be one of his worse traits. But he did try to fix his messes so it couldn't be all that bad yeah?

Anywho he'd let the comment slide as he just kept eating, only to realize he was out of rice. Shit. I knew I should have asked for extra rice. I never order enough. Ugh. Fuck it, I'll just drink the curry broth. Hoshi then tuned back in as Scarlet spoke up again. Though the sight of him was likely comical as he was at this point fishing out the last chunks of chicken in his phaal curry. And by the end of her commentary was mid drinking his curry sauce, tears very much present now and seemingly from the shoulders up a tomato given his skin tone. He'd set the mostly empty bowl of phaal curry sauce on the side as he reached over for the pitcher of water. Keeping it nice and close so he could drink once he was done speaking. "I KNEW IT! Nice! You know, if you ever need some training on your manipulation thing, we've got some gents at the facility who can help with that. One sec."

Hoshi immediately started downing the pitcher which was already half empty by this point and was rapidly becoming closer to completely gone. Ice cubes included. Once he was done, he spoke quickly so he could try to get someone else over to get him something to cool off his internals. "First off, I agree, Lava's fucking badass. Would love to see what all you can do sometime. Second off, good on you for getting another group it's probably not a bad idea to look around and see what groups are out there. Still biased towards us though haha! As for checking things out, we can definitely do that whenever you're free. I'll make sure we set a date for it."

"Unless you want to go today, in which case I'll have to ask my supervisors, but I don't see why not. Lastly, most of Xcution feel like military guys to me. Semi-serious on the job depending on who you're talking to. But otherwise just . . . people. Like you'd find anywhere. Some weird, some cool, some really just nice folk. And of course, some shit bags who think they're better than everyone else. But show me an organization that doesn't do that yea? I'll own up though, I'm probably the loudest when excited hehe. Anywho, I must go die in the bathroom for a few, so I'll be back."

With that said Hoshi's stomach churned and growled out dangerously loud. His smile faltered and he up and ran into the bathroom. He really hoped that didn't dissuade Scarlet from eating the curry but . . . he couldn't blame her if his display didn't convince her to try it. He wouldn't even blame her for ordering something else. But that would be for him to discover once he was out of the bathroom and right now, he was busy fighting for his gigai's life. Thankful he wasn't bound to any one body just yet because this was something he very specifically intended to never deal with again. Though it wasn't enough to stop him from eating spicy food . . . just . . . not this spicy.

[Scarlet]

A lot like Hoshi who didn’t wait at all really before downing the curry, Scarlet was right there sitting across from him doing her best to match his pace. Perhaps it was how stubborn she was or just her recent exposure to heat, but she kept pushing away the burning pain building up on her tongue. She’d done this in the past with cherry that admittedly was way less extreme. That had resulted in her healing up everything that had been in her stomach shortly afterwards. This time though Hikari could tell her body was handling it better, but for how long.

What resulted was something she hadn’t been expecting and honestly would have called stupid only a minute earlier. While the restaurant was packed the amount of noise along with the pace the both of them were eating drew the attention of the other diners along with even some staff. In reality the two of them would actually look like they were competing against one another in a race to see who could reach the end faster. Although Hikari would struggle to keep going, shoveling down the meal when Hoshi stopped to take a drink she couldn’t handle not doing the same.

Breathing heavily and inhaling as much oxygen as she could to cool down her tongue Hikari listened to Hoshi once again. While she was listening she hadn’t even really put it together that she was trying to just keep up with him for no reason. “I‘ve got a handle on most of it, I think. Actually managed to make some stuff myself.” Hikari wasn’t lying or bluffing; she'd managed to actually make a rather difficult technique involving the soul of the ground, but beyond that she hadn’t figured out how to make or use quite a few of the other elements or what could be done in a lot of other areas.

Hikari had to reach out and essentially pour the pitcher of ice cold water down her throat in order to handle the intense burning sensation coursing throughout her mouth. Her tongue felt like she’d just licked lava so much that the water did barely anything for her. This meal was certainly something that she wasn’t going to order again. While Hoshi began speaking once again somehow managing to keep his mouth going through the intense heat Hikari pushed forward doing her best to finish her plate. She managed to finish only a moment or so before Hoshi got done speaking, but once she swallowed the last of it she kept her mouth closed.

Her face turning dark red the Fullbringer wished she knew some way to just send the heat off her tongue. That's when it clicked in her head. Hoshi was off getting up from his set to the bathroom. Hikari getting the last of her water into her mouth focused her reiatsu for a moment. Concentrating on the water in her mouth Hikari willed the water to wash off all the spices from her tongue. She could feel it after a moment almost like she was breathing her tongue. After a few moments she felt much better but still hot. By the time Hoshi returned Hikari would be gone but on the table would be a napkin with her phone number on it and a few words.

Tomorrow
Morning
Park
Fight

[Hoshi]

It took Hoshi a good bit longer than he would like to admit when it came to returning from the bathroom. And in fact, EVERYTHING burned. He was definitely going to regret this for the remainder of today, but he could always ask the nerds for some help. . . Or not. He could just suffer in agony for a time and call it a day. He shrugged as he very gently let himself sit back down at the now empty booth. Chuckling a bit when he realized not only were they're plates gone, but a new pitcher of water was present, the bill was open and available, and a napkin with Scarlet's information and a challenge from the looks of it. His eyes widened and his smile got dangerously wide. "Oooh I KNEW I'd like her! Though . . . Could we not destroy the park I had to rebuild? Maybe I can convince her to follow me elsewhere."


He sat and thought about it for a moment before grabbing his card and waving down a waiter. Making sure to give them a sizeable tip for his antics as well as his compliments to the chef. Once the waiter was gone Hoshi continued to ponder over how to handle the rest of this challenge. Was this a challenge to see if he was capable enough to recruit her? Perhaps she just wanted to throw him into the pavement anyway? So many possibilities and yet he couldn't help but get the feeling that this was just her way of trying to get to know him. If he could hold his own and if he was worth her time as a rep of Xcution. He continued to chuckle and ultimately started making plans for the next day. He just needed a little help to make sure that there weren't too many issues especially since she chose an open area with many viewers.


Once his receipt came back he smiled and got up from the booth. Pocketing the napkin with her information and quickly made his way towards Xcutions nearest entrance. All the while using his phone to poke around in their data base. It took most of his walk to the entrance to find what he was looking for but once he did, he smiled wider as his reiatsu slowly started bubbling up in strength. He put his cell phone to his ear as he walked in, the line picking up almost at the end of the ringing. "Heya bud! Glad I got a hold of ya! - Yeah, I am calling for a favor. I've got a new possible recruit but she's a bit uhh . . . forward and concerned about our capabilities. So I've agreed to a fight, but I need someone to help make sure we're not caught by the public. Think you can help? . . . Awesome! Thank ya, I'll give you the details when I find your office. See ya!" And there it was, with Joshua's help Hoshi could make sure everything went smoothly. Especially if this was his chance at getting Scarlet to join. Now he just needed to get himself ready for the fight. He hadn't been this excited in a long time.

[Leonie Dallmann]

36 paragraphs from Hoshi, 30% social bonus!

29 paragraphs from Scarlet, 20% social bonus!