Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed]

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Today was a good day, and it was only early afternoon. The sun was high in the sky, standing more or less solitary in the sky. Sure, a few clouds made halfhearted attempts to float through it but they were so thin and scattered they amounted to almost nothing. The hustle-and-bustle of Karakura town rolled all around, and yet even in this chaos there was still quiet places where certain young, lazy Shinigami could find themselves a most relaxing nap.

And make no mistake on just how relaxing said nap was. Joshua had wasted little time upon deploying for his rounds of patrol finding himself this kind of spot. There was a tall tree that had stretched out, blocking out the warm summer sun. It stood in defiance of the landscape around it; the edge of one of the rivers that ran through the town, a sloped bank covered in grass. Had it not been the middle of a work day (and school for the younger people) there was little doubt you'd find another person or two lazing about in this place. For the time being though the Shinigami had the spot all to himself, and from the slight smile on his face he was not the least put out by that.

A soft breeze rolled past bending the grass and jostling the branches of the tree, sending dappling light across Joshua's form. He didn't much notice. At his side his Zanpaku-tou sat, removed from his belt as he normally wore it. For once Mikdazuki lay quietly; perhaps she too was enjoying this strangely listless day, or maybe she simply knew the truth. Though Joshua lay here, the very model of slacking efficiency, he was not half as unaware as he seemed. There were few things that Joshua took seriously when it came right down to it. This was the crux of the difference between himself, his captain, and many other Shinigami within Seireitei. He didn't care about the place of Shinigami, how they should act, and so on. Dress them up however you want, swordsmen were swordsmen to Joshua Jehanna.

Protecting the people that couldn't protect themselves though, that rang true with Joshua. In life he had not been half so noble a swordsmen, and in death he was only about three fourths as noble. He enjoyed the gamble of the fight; sure it was a test of skill, but it was also a chance to 'roll the dice' one could say. Some days you were lucky, some days you weren't. If this day would even be one where he got to play he'd find out. So while he was most certainly being lax, most certainly sleeping, he was not sleeping so soundly that he'd miss the tell-tale sign of a hollow's presence. Or the presence of anyone else approaching him.

Most likely.

Maybe.

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:16 pm

Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Miyako-FreestyleScript_zpse1f08852

Today started out as an extremely boring day for Miyako Aizawa. Everything was always the same! Sleep, school, work, sleep, school, work! Was it ever going to change?! She was too lively for this dull life. She was always energetic, wanting to move around, run, play, have fun. Sitting every single day in a classroom was not what she classified as entertaining. Luckily, she was a good student and had gotten the day off from work, so now this boring, uneventful, routine day was going to become something completely different. After moving through the first two classes of the day and finding out she completely aced the exams each had the week before, she no longer had to worry. Those were the classes she was worried about, the others were easy! A piece of cake, so why not take the rest of the day off? She decided to do so, and ditched. Sure, she could get in a lot of trouble, but she wasn't going to care. She was a good student with a clean record, she'll be fine. Miyako was weaving her way through the few people that walked down the streets, kicking a soccer ball back and forth, moving in and out through the obstacles that the area threw at her. From avoiding pedestrians, to preventing the ball from rolling all willy-nilly into the street, Miyako was having a grand ol' time. She turned onto one of the lesser streets of Downtown and saw that not many were around. Of course, most were where she should be, in school.

"Oh well..." she thought as she kicked the ball into the air and bounced it back and forth between her left and right knee, while at the same time moving down the sidewalk. Her eye was always on the ball, not paying very much attention to those that she was disturbing. A few people avoided her, others stared. As she kept going, she bumped into someone and accidentally kneed the ball a little to hard. "Ah! Sorry!" she said to the person she bumped into, but then quickly looked back to her ball. She ran after it, following it as it moved through the air. "Look out!" she yelled when she saw where her ball was heading. A man lay there on the ground, seemingly napping. She hurried over as the ball fell towards him, aiming to smack the unaware bystander on right on his head.... "Oh... shit!" she said as she hurried over to his side, "So sorry. I should have been paying attention to what I was doing! I hit the ball too hard, it went flying... I'm so sorry about that!"

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Not even a little bit aware.

Joshua was ready the moment he felt danger; the presence of a Hollow, the rise of a spiritual pressure, or any number of other things. Now once the girl yelled out to watch out, some part of his mind thought, for just a moment, that he should maybe open an eye and look. The rest of him was busy enjoying a rather pleasant dream that involved a great many things, some of which may not have actually existed. None of them where soccer balls. Nor were soccer balls something that should have been considered dangerous. Joshua was a spirit after all. And in the sense of causing harm to his 'physical' self, the ball wasn't dangerous.

However, things worked different here in Karakura Town. Being a place that dealt with a lot of spiritual traffic, and was itself a source of a great deal of spiritual energy, many common objects picked up some of the loose energy. This was why when a Hollow went on a little walk through the city you could see physical marks of the event. It's why a Shinigami's sword would cut through the concrete. At least, that was the theory. Why explain all this? To give a very good explanation of why the Vice Captain of the Sixth Division was hit squarely in the face with a soccer ball.

Had said ball come from somewhere else the result would have been a far stranger one, for Joshua anyway. Ever seen the inside of a soccer ball? Its pitch black. Luckily, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, the ball hit him square in the face and rebounded up and away.
“OW!” Joshua shouted as he sat up, startled by the sudden pain in his face as the ball bounced away. He had been enjoying such a quiet afternoon too. He realized only after another moment that his right hand had shot to the hilt of his sword, while his left hand had gone to check his face.

His eyes came into focus, and he looked around; he found the ball bouncing a little further away and a young woman who was in the midst of an apology about hitting him. Call him a little surprised? Yeah; while the frequency of humans who could see spirits was definitely on the rise it was still not an incredibly common occurrence. Also, Joshua had just been hit in the face with a soccer ball; call him a little startled and scatter-brained. He let go of his hold on his sword when he finally realized that, no, this girl was probably not going to assault him any further. As she finished her apology he rubbed his face again.
“Just be more careful next time,” he grumbled, his mouth still on auto-pilot. He looked the girl over a moment; she was young. Granted that any human would be young to a shinigami, but she couldn't have been out of his mid teens yet.

She was definitely in shape. Not the kind of shape one gets into when dealing with combat, but the more acceptable kind of shape. He blinked a few times before he gave her a smile.
“But seriously, no worries. Joshua,” he said, holding out a hand. He figured he didn't need to bother pointing out that it was odd she could see him. Either she knew what he was and it was redundant, or she didn't and he'd be making her life a little more complicated. There was also probably some rule about it somewhere. Had to be; Soul Society had rules for everything. Something this potentially ANYTHING was bound to have some rule about it.

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Sat Jul 20, 2013 6:25 pm

As Miyako saw her ball slam into this unaware man's face, she felt her heart skip a beat. "This isn't going to be good..." she thought as she hurried over to his side. She grabbed her ball on the way there and practically slid over to him the way a baseball player slides to a base. Seeing him grab his face, she hoped he wasn't bleeding or anything. "I'm so, so sorry!" she repeated multiple times until he told her to just be careful. "Oh.. Um..." she blinked a few times. Miyako received a much kinder reaction than she every thought possible of someone in Karakura Town. It wasn't every day that some teenage girl that was obviously ditching school kicked a soccer ball in your face. She had hoped her warning would have given him the idea to watch out, but apparently not. "U-Uh... S-Sure... I'll be more careful." she told him in a slightly worried tone. "He's too nice... Obviously no-... Wait a minute..." Miyako finally took a good look at the man she had unintentionally assaulted, "What is he wearing? Why does he have a sword? And wh-... Oh my, he's cute, but likely too old for me... Damn my luck. Hmph...." Miyako glanced off for a short moment, rolling her eyes at the thought. Teenagers and their quests for love, she wasn't any exception. The guy spoke out and told her not to worry. She gladly took his hand and shook it gently. "Nice to meet you, Joshua... I'm Miyako and I guess that confirms my suspicions." she said as she let go of his hand, "You're not from around here, are ya?" Miyako reached over and grabbed her ball. She set it under her bottom and sat on it, using her raised knees as a way to brace her arms while she sat and talked to him. "You know... You probably shouldn't be carrying a sword around so willy-nilly. Someone might think you're up to something... Are you?" Miyako gave him a suspicious look, though was obviously being quite playful in her tone. Just because he was likely too old for her, doesn't mean a little harmless flirting was a bad thing. Miyako only hoped that he wouldn't take to it in a negative way.

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

It seemed that Lady Luck was playing games again...

She was certainly attractive, which was a rather annoying circumstance since (as already established) she was certainly young yet. More to the point; Joshua had been hit in the face with a soccer ball(bad), only to have it lead to meeting an interesting and attractive woman(good), who was both still alive and too young by the current human standards(bad). Topping on the cake; she was lightly flirting with him. He chuckled at her comment about being up to no good.
“In truth, is anyone NOT up to something? Least of all you, miss. Aren't you supposed to be in school or something like that?” he quizzed, giving a small raise of an eyebrow and pointed look. There was a small smile on his face though with the comment.

Somewhere he heard a scoff. Typical Mikadzuki; always unhappy with his choices. Harmless flirting was just that; you'd think she'd be used to it, being attached to Joshua and all. He decided he didn't need to worry about it. He gave a small gesture to himself.
“I am quite obviously not from around here. Shouldn't be too surprising; don't you all get a lot of foreigners here anymore?” he asked with another smile. He felt a little bad about his intentional vagueness, but only a little. To anyone who couldn't see him Miyako would probably look just a tad crazy until they put two and two together.

Miyako...another Japanese name. Of course it made sense, being in Japan and all. A little too much Japanese in his daily life anymore though, so call him over exposed. He was a rarity to some degree; so many Shinigami were Japanese, but not him. He sometimes wondered if all of the races had their own equivalent and he had just fallen through the cracks into the wrong afterlife, but that didn't seem very likely.

He leaned back against the tree as a breeze rolled up.
“So what brings you out and about when you should be doing responsible things?” he asked, putting on a mock severity that may or may not have been a small impersonation of his Captain. He couldn't keep the mock-serious face for very long though; it didn't fit his features in the right way. So he smirked at the end.

“How long do you plan to keep this up? You should be doing your job.” said an all too familiar voice.
“So now you're saying I can't be friendly with someone who can actually see me?”
“That is EXACTLY what I'm saying; you thought it yourself, there is probably a rule against it.”
“I've always had a knack for not remembering rules, ya know.
“Unfortunatley, yes I do.

Thus was the small internal dialogue that took place between Joshua and his Zanpaku-tou; on the outside it didn't seem like anything more than a slight loss of focus in his eyes before they snapped back, rejoining the conversation.

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Fri Jul 26, 2013 4:57 am

Miyako wasn't one to bring fate into a situation, but this teenage girl with hormones jumping from wall to wall had no problem acting like 'this was meant to be'. She found him extremely attractive and the very short bit of personality she had collected through the momentary apology just moments ago pinged him as a nice guy. There was one problem, he went to treat her like a child. "Hmph... School? I'll have you know I graduated a year ago... I'm nineteen, not some kid." Miyako confidently told him. She was lying through her teeth, but how would he know? Things weren't always what they appeared. So she appeared young! Doesn't mean it was true, even though it is. "Oh here we go... Why did I just lie like that?!" Miyako cursed herself for the mistake, though there was no backing out of it now. Now sitting on her ball, the conversation moved towards where he was from. He was right. It was obvious he wasn't from around there, but she felt a different vibe from him. Oh well, might as well toss that thought out. "Of course we get a lot of foreigners... I work down at Anseijima, the vacation resort place... We get people from all around the area. It was originally built as a resort for those who can't travel far from home, but it got a little too popular." Miyako told him, pointing behind her towards the direction of the resort, though you obviously could not see it from here.

"Responsible things? I have the day off from work, so I was going for a walk..." Miyako told him, avoiding the subject of schools, "You sound like an old man when you talk that way, ya know? If I may ask, how old are you? I mean.... If I had to guess, I'd go wiiiiith... twenty... two? Maybe?" As she was asking him his age, she noticed that he seemed to space out. "Josh?" she said, shortening his name like one would a friend, "Josh...?" Miyako she brought her hands up and snapped a few times in front of his face until he came back to focus. "Don't be rude when someone is talking to you." she said with a raised eyebrow, "If you didn't want to answer, that's fine. You obviously don't have to answer anything that I ask, silly."

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Josh raised an eyebrow when she told him her age. Really, nineteen? He took another look at her for a moment. As the conversation continued he reached into his pocket and pulled out something; it was an old coin. You wouldn't find it in use these days; the coin was old in the way Joshua was old. It was a strange acquisition from Rukongai, but beyond that it was a coin from where he was from. How exactly one of those coins ended up in Soul Society he wouldn't tell ya, and it wasn't his job to ask about it either. He began to roll the coin casually across his fingers as they talked.

His attention came back to Miyako as she shorted his name and snapped her fingers. He gave a small, apologetic smile.
“Sorry; had a wandering thought,” he said as though that accounted for it. He looked down at the coin for a moment before smirking and looking back at her. He made a motion with his hand and the old coin flew up into the air, spinning. He caught the coin as it came back down, and looked into his hand. So Lady luck had spoken. He looked back at her.
“It's been a long time since I saw my twenty second birthday, that's for sure. Guess I look younger than I am too,” he said with a wink.

He idly rolled the coin around in his hand once more as he let a few moments of silence settle in.
“So, classes that boring huh? Can't say I blame you; this is not the kind of day to sit inside and stare at books...or papers.” he said as he gave an exaggerated cringe. Granted, Soul Society had nicer days more often, but so many of them he had to sit inside and do paperwork...or was supposed to. It was something different on Earth though. Maybe it was the fact that it was where he felt like he belonged in some sense; it was where he had come from most certainly. Different or not, it was still his “hometown” in a sense. He laid back down.

“I can't understand how people do it sometimes; beautiful day and they stay inside working away the sun. Because it's 'what they're supposed to do'. Heck of a way to spend a life if you ask me,” he said, beginning to ramble. He suddenly took hold of the coin and looked at her.
“Tell me, what's your thoughts on games of chance?”

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Fri Jul 26, 2013 6:01 am

"A wandering thought?" Miyako raised an eyebrow at him, "A wandering thought my ass.. he just didn't want to pay attention! Oi... Men." Miyako leaned back until she fell off the soccer ball and fell onto the grass. He went to answer her guesstimate about his age, thought she wasn't expecting what he replied with. "Wait, what? How old are you then?" Miyako asked out of curiosity instead of her lame attempts at flirting with a guy who seemed to see her as a child. Turning her body to lay parallel from his, she set the ball under her head to use it as a pillow, though it seemed like it would be very uncomfortable. Miyako relaxed for a moment, just laying there silently as he played with this strange coin, though Miyako didn't show much interest in it. He spoke up again and Miyako immediately replied in a more natural manner. "No... I aced all the exams I took, so I decided to give myself a day off and ditch...." she told him. A moment passed before Miyako mentally smacked herself. Nice way to reveal your obvious lie. And like dumb teenagers do, instead of just admitting to it, she laid there to think of ways to move around what she said to convince him of her false age. Instead, the conversation moved further. Miyako rolled over on her stomach to face him, her head tilted to the side at what he was saying. Her first intention was to reply to his look on working because it's what you're supposed to do, but he looked to her after taking up his coin again. "Games of chance?" Miyako raised an eyebrow, "No idea... Only game of chance that comes to my mind is that gun game, and I can't say I like it. Russian Roulette... Not a game I'd ever take a chance in. Why the sudden question? ........ And what's wrong with people who work?" Miyako moved back to what he had been saying before. "People have to work to survive... Not everyone has some rich parents behind them that are willing to pay for everything they want. You want to live with a roof over your head, you work for it. You want food? You work for it. It's not like people prefer work over spending the day outside. As you said, it's what we have to do, but what kind of person would prefer the latter?"

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Joshuabanner

Joshua smirked when Miyako outed herself about her lie, and he didn't hold it against her. Sometimes people didn't want to be judged by their age after all. Shinigami had learned to not to that to some degree; I mean, look at the freaking Captain Commander after all.

He smirked wider as Miyako spoke about Russian Roulette. Certainly not a game from his time. Also a game he had little interest in at the end of the day. She spoke about his comments about working, and his smile faded slightly. This was exactly one of those issues of time; when Joshua had been alive a man could make a living and enjoy his day. He could live every day to the most it could be, because in the line of work Joshua had participated in any one of those days could be your last. He waved a hand at her.
“Yeah yeah everyone has to work to stay alive and all that, I'm not talking about that. What I mean is..hmm, how to say it,” Joshua mused aloud for a moment, scratching the back of his head. “I know a guy. He's a good guy at heart and all, but he is the very symbol of what I was talking about. He lives to work. Doesn't matter how nice a day it is, how dreary, how anything he is working. Once his work is complete he seeks out more work to do. He never stops, never appreciates the wonder around him. As he says, there is always more work to be done. And its very important for everyone's image that they do it.

Joshua gave a small hand wave, and decided it would be best if he shut his mouth now. After all, he didn't like talking about his Captain behind his back no matter how appropriate an example Byakuya was. He thought for a moment, organizing his words so he could explain the game he was thinking of playing. Bets were always so much fun, and Joshua lived in many way for gambling.
”Well, the idea is simple. I'll-”

Joshua's mood all changed in the space of time it takes to blink an eye. His eyes flashed away from Miyako, looking off in a seemingly random direction. It was faint and had appeared for just a moment, but in that moment he was sure of it; he had felt a Hollow's presence. Why now though? Was it coming for him? For the girl who was he was talking to; she could see spirits so she had some level of power. Did the thing even know what Joshua was? Did it care? A thousand questions ran through his head, and his concern suddenly shifted to the girl. No matter why it had shown up, if it was focused on them she was in danger. For that brief moment Joshua's laid back and lazy attitude evaporated like water in a desert; what was left behind was a keeness like a sword's edge.

Then that too vanished, and lazy old Joshua was back. He looked back at her with a smile, though it didn't quite reach his eyes like it had before.
“Actually, I just had a thought. I'm hungry; think you could show a foreigner the best place to grab a bite to eat around here?

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Tue Aug 20, 2013 8:08 pm

Yeah, busted. No other way to describe it. The fact that he pushed past the fact was... well, she didn't know. It was cool, but so embarrassing at the same time. Oh well. She shouldn't of lied in the first place. As she spoke to him about work, she was waved off. "Hey..." she thought, glaring at him a bit, but it quickly became whatever. He brought up some example about a guy he knew, but Miyako didn't exactly see a problem with it. "Well that doesn't seem very fair of you, does it?" Miyako said as she sat up and looked to him, "Did you ever think that his idea of fun and relaxing actually is working and getting things done? Not everyone feels comfortable just sitting there all the time. I mean... I get the 'for everyone's image' part, but that's not the same. Some people just actually enjoy work." Miyako brought her knees up and set her arms around them. She looked to him as he started talking once more, but raised an eyebrow when his attention was suddenly grabbed by... nothing? "Um... What are you looking at?" she asked. He didn't answer. He was suddenly lost in thought, so she just sat there staring at him and feeling slightly awkward. After a while, he snapped out of it and smiled back at her. She blinked a couple times and just returned the smile before he asked about getting something to eat. "Ah... Well um..." Miyako looked around and tilted her head, "There's a Ramen shop I go to... Along with this bakery my sister likes, but sweets aren't exactly good for you no matter how good they taste. Other than that, I usually eat at work or at home." Miyako stood up and glanced around. "Where would you want to go? Anseijima has a bar, though I can't go i-... I mean.. Uh.. Oh god, forget it. You already busted me anyway. I'm to young to go into the bar, but it's got two restaurants and a cafe." Miyako turned to him and crossed her arms as if she were irritated, but obviously she was not. She just felt sorta stupid for lying to some dude she thought was hot when she just met him.

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Behind the facade of lax attention and assumed ease the wheels of Joshua's mind were turning. He had felt the energy of a Hollow, a dark energy that he could best describe as feeling like smoke...or slime, but it had been for only a moment. As though the monster had retreated the moment is came through into this world. Or maybe it was hiding its energy? There were reports of such hollows, larger than normal though not yet beyond the level of a Menos. They had appeared though during Aizen's time, supposedly as an experiment of said Shinigami. Were there still more out there? Was this something else?

He made a show of thinking over the options that Miyako was kind enough to give him. First order of business; he needed to figure out whether the Hollow was here hunting him or the girl. Part of that depended on the power of the Hollow though, and the energy hadn't been around long enough for him to really get a good grasp of it. It was possible it was after her since he obviously possessed some power to be able to see him. However he made a much more appetizing target, albeit with a lot more danger involved from the Hollow's perspective.

“You're thinking too much; if its actually after either of you, you should be moving instead of standing still,” came Mikadzuki's voice, and he had to agree with the lady.
”Which would you call the best?” Joshua asked, because everyone has a preference when talking about restaurants. That was one of the things he had managed to learn despite the massive difference in age from when he died to now. He let her talk, explain herself, and gave a nod.
“Sounds great. Lead the way,” he said with another smile. If he could get her out of the area he wouldn't have to worry too much about her. If the Hollow was after him, that was. Unfortunately the only way to really discern that was to split up, and that involved an risk he wasn't willing to accept.

As they begun walking he felt another brief appearance of the Hollow's presence; this time much closer. A few steps more, and it appeared again. It was tracking them, and Joshua was pretty sure he had figured out how. He gave a small chuckle seemingly out of the blue, and took a long breath as he stopped walking. He lowered his spiritual power even further than it had already been; when in doubt, be the bait.
“So, the reason I asked you about games of chance is because we're going to play one,” he said with a genuine smile as he held up the old coin again for her to see. He turned it so she could see both sides as he spoke.
“This is the simplest game there is. Call it in the air; if you call it right I will tell you my age and everything about me. If you call it wrong, I'll leave right now and you'll never see me again.”

Sometimes fate is funny. As Joshua finished speaking a strange roar went out from somewhere nearby. It was as deep and long and empty as winter, filled with the hunger of long forgotten predators. It was seemed to shake the ground. The birds fell silent, and no one else seemed to be around. It was a Hollow's cry. As the roar ended a large footprint appeared twenty feet away from the two as something large stepped out of the veil between this world and Hueco Mundo. Before Miyako's attention could wander too far, before panic set in, Joshua called out to her as he took a step; whether she realized it or not he positioned himself between her and the forming beast.
“Well, call it,” he said, and the coin flipped into the air.

Behind him the Hollow appeared, ten feet tall with purple skin. Its mask was bone white and looked like someone had stretched the jaw of a wolf out to three feet long. It had arms round as telephone poles, with large spikes protruding out. More spikes ran along its back and down its tail, which stretched out another five feet behind it. It was something out of a nightmare. Two pinpicks of sickly yellow light sat where its eyes should have been, and seemed to squint at them pair a moment. It opened its mouth and roared once more, its mouth a gateway to a darkness as deep as mankind's first nights before flame and lightning.

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Thu Aug 22, 2013 2:02 am

"Well... I'd actually prefer not having to go into work on my day off, and I know the moment I show up I will be asked to suit up, so... The Ramen Shop." Miyako said. She would usually ask him to choose since he wanted to eat, but if he had chosen Aneseijima, she'd be a little annoyed. Better to just avoid that and choose herself. Joshua told her to go on and lead the way, so she did. They were quiet while walking, but Miyako felt like something had to be bothering Josh. Out of no where, she felt something weird. She had felt it before, but always ignored it. It kept coming back and leaving, like a strange tingle on the back of her neck. She thought about it for a second, she had felt it a moment ago. It was getting more and more odd. She had felt it before, but never this strong. It was nerve wrecking... "Something feels weird... Off... I don't know what it is... I don't like it..." she mumbled as she rubbed her neck. As she said that, he stopped walking, so she stopped and looked towards him. "Hm?" she dropped her arm back to her side, "You want to play a game? Now? Okay then..." He held up the coin and she just looked at it. He explained the rules of the game and she looked at him slightly upset and confused. "But... I-..." The feeling suddenly returned, but this time left a ringing in her ear. A roar echoed through and she was about to look away, but was told to call it. Something was wrong. She could tell. Everything felt off and it was starting to scare her. As the coin was tossed into the air, she glanced up to it. Behind it, she saw something forming. "Head-... Josh, what is that?!!" she said as her attention was caught by the beast behind Joshua. She looked behind him and froze up completely. She could see it, this monster. She heard things about monsters showing up in the past years, but she never, ever thought one would show up in front of her.

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

Joshua was being quite honest when he had made that bet. If she called it wrong he would have left, just vanished from that stop and left her to her fate. If this seems cold hearted, you're not wrong but Joshua was a man of his word. Once he agreed to a bet he'd uphold it till the bitter end. It was a personal belief of his that a person needed to hold to their word, because anything else was cheap by comparison. Also it made life more interesting he found; it had served him well in life, and if it by chance led him down darker roads then try not to judge him too harshly.

After all, there was no way for Miyako to lose this bet.

Joshua may never back out of his a bet, but that certainly didn't mean he wouldn't cheat. He snatched the coin out of the air with his left hand, and took a look at it quite calmly considering there was a roaring nightmare behind him. He looked at it for a moment before giving an exagerated roll of his eyes.
“And Lady Luck has spoken. First the assignment now the girl,” he said, pocketing the coin even as the Hollow was preparing to charge him and Miyako. He looked back at her with a smile.
“That, is a nuisance,” he said as he drew his blade with his free hand.

Unfortunately for Joshua, things were about to quickly escalate beyond what he had expected. As the blade cleared the scabbard the Hollow lunged, huge fist flying straight towards him and consequently Miyako. Normally he'd dodge out of the way of an attack like that, but that'd have the very real consequence of flattening Miyako. So instead he went with an alternate tactic. He intercepted the fist with his blade in one hand while he left made a simple cutting motion.
“Geki!” A brilliant red aura suddenly flared up around the monster, and it let out a roar of frustration. It tried to raise its other fist, to no avail and Joshua smirked.

That was when the second Hollow appeared; it gave no warning unlike its cohort. It simply lunged out from directly behind the first Hollow, bypassing the Shinigami and going for the much easier target; Miyako. Joshua saw this, and started to pull back to intercept that creature as well. However, as he did the first Hollow suddenly broke through the bakudo as though it hadn't existed; he'd been suckered in whole hog.
“Get down!” he shouted at her, the edges of his voice tinged with panic; he hadn't expected a co-ordinated attack like this, and especially not against someone other than himself.

The second hollow was a much leaner creature. It had skin the color of dust with a bone-white skull shaped more like a bird than mammal. Instead of hands it had long hook-like appendages, which gleamed in the warm sunshine. They were wickedly sharp things, capable of tearing people in half. In fact, that was very much so the plan for the second Hollow. Its lunge brought it within range of its target, and one giant claw swung straight at her, at chest level with the full intent to cut her simply in half. After that he tasty soul would be more readily available for ...lunch.

That was when something most strange happened. The claw swung through the space she occupied, cleaved clean through like a scalpel through paper. Yet it didn't HIT anything. The claw simply flowed straight through her, as though she hadn't existed. Like she was a ghost...except Hollow did hit ghosts, so maybe that comparison didn't quite work. Whatever the case, it was sufficiently confusing to most everyone present, and certainly to the Hollow in question. In fact, said Hollow stopped long enough to look at its claw in a most questioning manner. Then it looked back at her, and with a roar of anger raised the other claw.

You only get lucky once though it seemed. There were two nearly simultaneous cries of pain. The first Hollow grabbed hold of its hand, which had a deep gash between two of the knuckles. The second Hollow's right claw hit the ground next to it. Joshua was standing once more between the monsters and Miyako, and was looking back at her with a concerned expression. However, there seemed to be no damage to her in a physical sense. Emotionally, she was probably going into some kind of shock or something.
“One thing at a time,” Mikaduzki warned, and he had to agree.

“Miyako, take a step back and stay there. Nothing else is going to get near you,” he said, and there was a strength in those words. Before his speech had been so free-flowing. He spoke now as though he were stating fact, and he turned away from her back to the two monsters. It was possible there could be more of them, waiting for him to make his move for another chance to strike. However, if he tried to stand here and watch for a million attacks that may never come he'd fail to stop the ones that actually did. He slid into a stance, bringing his blade up in his right hand to point at the Hollows.
“Rise, Mikadzuki.”

As lazy as Joshua was he wasn't the VC of the Sixth Division for nothing, and he certainly was no slouch when it came to combat. He had been flat-footed before. He had been assuming things. Very unlike him. As he spoke, his blade suddenly glowed and changed shape; it became thinner and shorter. It rested in his hand much better than the katana that had been there before. The familiar weight of the blade gave him a smile.
“Looks like Lady Luck wasn't with you guys either,” he chided. “Imbue, Hado #32, Ookasen. He had made a mistake before. He had gone easy because he had believed the Hollow wasn't a threat. However, Miyako had survived had been luck as far as he was concerned; he would not make the same mistake twice.

At his words the blade of his sword was suddenly engulfed in a golden light. Thanks to the properties of Mikadzuki's imbue ability though it didn't just fire out and wipe out a good portion of the area that he had been pointing at. The glow simply remained while the two Hollows prepared for the fight. Then he moved. What followed was strangely graceful for someone who had moved so little up till now. He shot forward along the ground before all but vanishing from sight. He appeared between the two monsters, his sword already mid-arc towards the hook-monster. The blade was so far away though, and so short, that it couldn't possible cut the creature. It was true too; the sword most certainly didn't cut the Hollow. The arc of Kidō energy did, however. When the blade had been swung the arc of the swing had activated the imbued Kidō, and a short arc of energy stretched out along the cut. Said energy arc went straight through the second Hollow's mask.

Joshua continued the arc, bringing the swing into a vertical attack aimed at the first Hollow; it moved quicker than its bulk suggested and dodged to the right before it lashed out with its good fist. The punch shattered the ground where it hit, sending up a small cloud of dust. Normally, this would have been advantageous for Joshua since it would have given him cover. Normally; this time he had no need of it. While the second strike had used up the imbue of Ookasen, he didn't actually need it either. Instead of actually standing on the ground when the Hollow had lashed out Joshua had jumped slighlty and created a platform of reishi under his feet; the cracking of the ground had little effect on the Shinigami other than telling him exactly where his opponent was; his left hand was already pointed at the creature.
“Byakurai.”

The bold of white lightning ripped through the Hollow's head, and with one last roar of defiance it began to dissipate. Joshua stepped down back onto the ground and started back towards Miyako. Mikadzuki's form shifted, once more returning to the form of a katana. Joshua had the blade sheathed before he had fully exited the dust cloud. He was also coughing lightly; dust is dust, and nothing in Karakua was normal. He stopped a little farther from Miyako than before, since for all he knew she was freaking out at this point. Sure, mankind now knew of the spiritual beings but that didn't make ANYTHING that had just happened okay. Most people never had to see what had just gone down, let alone seeing it so up close.

“So, you won the bet. Where should I start?” he asked, going back to their conversation before the insanity had begun. He was half convinced he was about to be told to get the hell away from her and to watch her run away.
“Would you blame her?”
“Not in the slightest.”

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Sun Aug 25, 2013 10:14 am

Everything was happening too fast for Miyako to react normally. She watched with wide eyes as a monster went on the attack. Joshua defended, seemingly easy taking on the large beast. But then came a problem, a second one appeared and went after Miyako. This monster was frightening. Miyako could not move, she was stuck. The second went on the attack, swinging it's claw violently towards her. "AHHHH!" Miyako screamed at the top of her lungs as she went to step back away from it, but was not fast enough. It was going to hit her, but something happened. Miyako felt a shiver, something shifted within her. The claw swiped right through her at that moment, leaving a surprised Miyako looking at herself in wonder. "What... just... happened..." she asked as she looked up to the hollow as he looked at his own claw. Miyako jumped as it let out another loud roar. Miyako's eyes were stuck on it. She began backing away as it looked as if it were about to strike again, but it never happened. Both hollow roared loudly in pain and Miyako looked over to see Joshua. "W-wow..." she muttered and moved a little closer to him. He reassured her that she would be fine, nothing else was getting near her. There was something about the way he said it that made her feel safe. She was able to calm down enough to breathe semi-normally, but there was still this underlining feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. She did as he said, going against what she thought was safest and took a few steps back away from him and these beasts that were attacking her. She watched in awe and horror as the scene unfolded. He did something, multiple things that she did not understand, nor could she keep up with. She only saw these arcs of energy appear and then moments after that the second beast that appeared seemingly died. Josh went to attack the other, but it some how dodged and went on the attack. Josh also dodged, leading to the widening of Miyako's eyes once more. As the monsters claw hit the ground, Miyako closed her eyes to make sure the dust created did not hit them. When she opened them again, a shot of lightning fired off and tore through the beasts head.

Josh was now making his way back towards Miyako. She watched his blade turn back to what it once was and blinked a few times. She looked from the blade, back up to him and stared. He mentioned the bet, causing her to raise an eyebrow. Was he really going to act like none of that just happened? Oh well... She was allowed to ask everything about him now, at least that is what she thought with how he had been talking. Miyako blinked once more, smiled, and took a hop towards him. "That was amazing! I've never seen anything like that before!" she said and gave him a quick hug, "Thank you for saving me! Obviously I appreciate that a heck of a lot, but I do wanna know about you... and that thing, those things you just killed. Oh! Right. I forgot! You said you were hungry right? Here...! Let's go to Anseijima! If they ask me to work, I'll just tell them no. I get like... a seventy five percent discount on everything food related there, so yeah... I want to treat you to practically anything you want!! Let's go!" Miyako was a little energetic and excited at the moment. As she said 'let's go', she grabbed his hand and began to dart in that direction in hopes of him coming along with her. Though, no one could hold it against him if he stopped her and told her to slow down.

Posts : 111 Join date : 2012-11-28 Age : 34

“Well, didn't expect that.”
“Well, didn't expect that.”

And some say that Joshua and Mikadzuki didn't agree on anything. The reactions Joshua had expected from the young girl were varied and many, and while her current one had been a possibility he had never seriously entertained the notion she would react like that; namely with seeming acceptance and a strange joyfulness. She hoped once before grabbing him in an embrace, which rested a surprised look from the Shinigami before she began talking faster than seemed entirely reasonable. Her mind was obviously going about ten thousand miles a minute here, and whose wouldn't? She had just witnessed something out of a nightmare...or a story book depending on how you really wanted to look at it. She released him only to grab his hand and start pulling him towards the place she worked.

His free hand shot up to stop his hat from falling off his head while he took a few steps with her before he gave a tug to pull her to a stop, though he did so gently.
“Whoa now, slow down half a second there. Take a breath,” he said with a chuckle. “Now let's see...”
He was quiet for the space of a long breath as he ordered his thoughts.
“I'm not even entirely sure I can eat the food around here. I mean, I can interact with things but does that extend to food? Why haven't I tried this before?” he asked, mostly to himself.
“Are you really asking that right now? Because you don't think is the answer.” Apparently Mikadzuki didn't care about rhetorical questions.

“How about I answer some of those questions first before we go running off and possibly making you look looney in front of your boss?” Joshua asked. He was sure there would be some kind of response from the people of Karakura about that Hollow attack; they had spiritually aware people now, and surely someone was going to show up eventually to check out that Hollow signature. He gave a motion and started walking towards the water's edge. As he did he spoke, assuming she'd follow him.
“Where to start? Well, as you know my name is Joshua. I'm afraid I'm not quite normal anymore; I'm a Shinigami. You've heard of them? And those things, well those were Hollows. They're sorta like soul devouring monsters, minus the sorta part. Pretty big Hollows too; haven't seen a whole lot of those recently...anyway. I'm technically supposed to be out here on patrol, looking for those things. This time though they saved me the trouble; they came and found me. Sorry you had to get wrapped up in that by the way.”

Joshua was rambling to some degree. His mind was busy pondering on the question that had cropped up during the fight; why had the Hollows shown up? Were they after him as he had suggested, or were they after Miyako? They seemed a tad weak to be making a full attempt on a Vice Captain like that, but then again he hadn't been flaunting his power so maybe they'd gauged it wrong? He made a note to put someone in charge of keeping a closer eye on this area; if the Hollows had been after Miyako then other might try for it too.

“Luckily I'm no slouch when it comes right down to killing monsters, eh?” he said with a smirk as he looked back at her, intending it as a joke.

Subject: Re: Sleep Away the Afternoon [Closed] Sat Sep 21, 2013 2:31 pm

Miyako stopped walking and turned back to Josh with a confused and slightly concerned look in her eyes. She stared at him as he spoke out loud to himself and Miyako's face dropped to a dull expression. "Are you serious? You're just thinking about that now? Isn't that something you would think about... I don't know... before speaking about going somewhere to eat?" she asked him. His next suggestion was alright with her though. She followed him to the waters edge and just listened to what he was telling her. "Yeah, I've heard of them..." she said before moving into thought, "... though I never thought I'd meet one... Wait doesn't that mean... he's... dead...?" As she stood there listening to him speak, she kept looking him up and down, her skin becoming slightly pale. She never met someone dead before. This was odd! He's dead and she was flirting with him!? The dead weren't supposed to be hot! What the hell is this madness!? "O-Oh... N-No... You s-saved me! Th-Thank you for your help!" Miyako tried keeping a decent expression on her face, but she felt like an idiot, so that was hard. This was wrong... She shouldn't suddenly be freaked out just because of what she found out he was. Shinigami were supposed to be there to protect the living, right? That's what she had been told at least. He had also taken his time to protect her just a few moments before. How could she switch her opinion of him just because of what he is? "That's so racist..." she mumbled under her breath very quietly, though probably not loud enough to be heard. Josh turned to her with a smirk and complimented himself on killing monsters. It took a second, but once she snapped out of her thoughts, she was able to perk up a smile and nod. "Yep! If it weren't for you, I'd be dead now!" Miyako said to him and then looked out to the water. "I'm sorry about before... I shouldn't of lied to you about something as trivial as my age." she said and then winked flirtatiously towards him, "Though, it's not like you can blame me. You're obviously to old for me and it's hard not to flirt with someone as hot as you, ya know?" Miyako put her hands behind her back and turned fully towards him, "So why don't you and I head to some place so I can pay you back? If you're not hungry, pick something else! Though Anseijima actually does have just about... wel-... That monster..." Miyako's thoughts were suddenly torn away from the idea of going to Anseijima and back to the hollow encounter, "It... tried to kill me." Miyako raised her hands and looked down to them with a slightly horrified look in her eyes. "It couldn't hit me... I... can't tell whether it went through me... Or I went through it... My body... felt so weird... What happened to me?" Miyako looked up to Josh in hopes that he would have some sort of explanation as to how that happened.

CLOSED

» Two Can be as Bad as One [Closed]
» Almost There [Closed]
» A Regular Day on the Job [Closed]
» A Reaper in Red {Closed}
» Reunited [Closed]