Not Quite Home [Closed | Tokyo | Alyshea]

“Tokyo”, Alyshea’s eyes took in the sight of the city, as she breathed out its name, having rarely been in such a large metropolis outside of the airport. Although she had always been a bit of a traveler, there were numerous moves as a child, that had leveled off a bit in the last decade or so. It wasn’t until she started the internship at her family’s company that she had taken to the road, or more accurately the airways, once more. There had been the recent trip to Ohio within the states to pitch their line of products to a chemical corporation. Ghosting along side the seasoned sales team, she was slowly learning the ins and outs of the game.

There was a lot of keeping the customer happy, something she seemed to have a knack for, and a whole lot of convincing the client they couldn’t live without Pfoertner Manufacturing. That was something she had greater difficulty delivering. Oh she had studied the product, knew all the right things to say, could answer questions as to specifications, profit margins, increased productivity, margins of errors, and a wealth of other facts and figures designed to show how the Pfoertner brand not only blew their own competition out of the water but would help their customers do the same to their own. Yes, she was becoming quite the little company girl but she couldn’t help wonder if her soul was dying in the process.

The clan was important to her on so many levels more than just the corporate holdings, their affluence was merely what made it possible to preserve a lifestyle that had gone out of fashion ages ago. The safekeeping of the ancient lore, the artifacts that had been passed down generation after generation, and the very bloodline itself would have been at risk were they to fall to financial ruin. Losing the ancient clan holdings that had been the seat of the Pfoertner’s since the thirteenth century would shatter their very identity. Having learned their secrets, she had been shocked her father ever agreed to go off to America with her mother all those years ago. But then there were a lot of things about her parents life choices she didn’t quite understand. Fortunately Aly had experienced growing up among her clansmen when she and her father returned to Germany. So while she longed to run with her cousins, her carelessness had cost them the strongest member of her generation. She could never bring Alistair back, however she could devote her life to advancing the family corporation and ensure that their heritage continued for generations to come.

This trip, however, had nothing to do with the clan’s corporate holdings, but rather the acquisition of an ancient artifact. It was nothing so adventurous as delving into ancient ruins to search of a fabled item of power from the ancient world, nor was it in playing hard ball to broker a good price from a treasure hunter, all of these things had been handled by one of the numerous cousins within the clan. No, Aly was simply playing mule. Her task was to pick up the ‘package’ and bring it back through customs with her to Pfalzgrafenweiler. A menial task indeed, she mused, but surely she could be depended upon to accomplish such a chore without getting anyone killed.

The broker in Karakura Town naturally had everything in order upon her arrival, she had not even been required to inspect the goods as the man’s reputation was such that his word was without suspect. In addition to the long standing relationship he had with her clan, it was enough that he said the item was authentic. Had there been any examination of the item required, another member of the clan would have handled the task; holy artifacts had never really been her emphasis of training. She was just the courier.

Having completed the ‘pick up’, she boarded the bullet and headed back to Tokyo for her return flight home. Her itinerary hadn’t lined up perfectly, however, and so she found herself with a whole day to kill before she had to catch her plane. It was not a bad arrangement, really. Free trip to Japan and a bit of time to do some sightseeing. After checking into her accommodations for the layover, she had changed out of her business attire in favor of something more casual. She slipped her wallet into the pocket of her faded light blue capris, the jean material thin enough to be appropriate to the heat of the city, and opted for her Birkenstock sandals for footwear. Her black blouse was loose, the neck wide enough to hang down upon the right exposing her shoulder and the strap of her grey sports bra, the front depicted Papyrus and Sans from Undertale. While she had never finished the video game, her internship seriously cutting into her gaming time, it had made her laugh how everything ‘filled you with determination’.Well she certainly could use a hefty dose of that.

Wandering the streets, however, she soon became distracted from thoughts of her familial duties and just enjoyed the small reprieve in her hectic schedule. She had to keep up with the flow of people teaming about the streets, an influx emerging from the underground of a subway system, but even the press of the crowd was not so large as to deny her the ability to do a bit of dawdling.

Looking at what was maybe the teen fashion center of the city, she had to laugh at how wild some of the marketing schemes were. Entire panels of architecture were virtual billboards, something she found to be a bit jarring to the eye. Rather than letting the ornamentation of the building blend into a general theme for the area, it was as if the very buildings themselves were in competition to advertise their merchandise and draw the customers in. It was a bit like sensory overload so that eventually nothing stood out and all became a blur. Amazingly enough it was the Starbucks logo that drew her in, something both recognizable to her and playing to her current needs. Her teen years were far behind her and most of the goods for sale were not to her tastes at all. Coffee, on the other hand, was just the thing. Cuing up with the rest of the patrons, she waited for her turn to place her order.

Word Count: 1082

In a nation that is not your own, one can't help but be drawn to that which is familiar regardless of whether or not one likes the given stimuli. In Marshal's case, this came in the form of Starbucks. The shop itself wasn't so bad in his mind, at least not in theory. In practice, though, he found the chain lacking. A bell chimed overhead as he pushed the door open and his ears eagerly greeted the drone of chatter, and the bustle of the staff over the blaring music. Closing his eyes for just a moment, he felt like he was home. It didn't matter that the words spoken around the foreigner were in a language he was just beginning to understand, or that the smell of the shop had undertones of mystery ingredients he couldn't identify. What mattered, to him, was the experience. Being there, in that moment, did something good for his spirit.

As he felt a gentle nudge of someone pushing passed the fullbringer was reminded of where he really was. Just as quickly as it'd come, the moment was gone. With it went his sense of peace for the time being and his face quickly fell back into an almost blank expression. He kept quiet as he stepped in line, unlike the majority of the other shop's patrons. The people around him, mostly women, spoke too quickly for him to understand. He could just barely feel the tickle of souls around him as he slowly advanced to place his order.

Much like the majority of the shop's drinks, the souls around him were boring and bland. They were mortals and nothing more. On occasion, he could feel someone passing just outside the shop that held promise. Almost like adding cream or sugar to a given drink to make it just right, they were someone who, if pushed in just the right way, would become something more. Something caught his attention just as he reached the barista, almost to the point he wasn't able to focus himself again.

"...One medium Pink Drink, please." after a bit of a delay, miniature motes of reishi gathered on his tongue in order to translate his order to the teen behind the counter. In all honesty, he hated the drink. Each time he choked it down he failed to see the appeal that his sister once saw in it. True, she was young and a girl so the fact that it was pink had more of an impact on her decision than it should have but even when he placed himself in the mindset of a young female the appeal eluded him. Perhaps it was his adult taste buds but the drink, to him, tasted of watered down toothpaste mixed with bubble gum flavored medicine.

As he moved to wait for his drink, he quickly found the source of what had previously grabbed his attention. A woman, one who seemed around his age, waited by herself in the shop. Perhaps it was for a comrade, perhaps it was for a drink, but he didn't care. In any case, aside from himself, she was the only one in the immediate area that seemed to be 'more' and was aware of it. He eyed her through the small crowd between them, placing his earbuds into his pocket as he leaned a hip on an empty table. 

She felt eerily familiar. While he couldn't place how or why, the fullbringer couldn't take his eyes from the woman. She was a mystery he was determined to unravel.Upon hearing his name called, Marshal pushed himself off the table he'd been leaning against. Upon passing the woman, he tethered a small amount of his reiatsu to her own. After taking his drink from the employee behind the counter, he made his way toward the exit. Just before he stepped foot into the open air once more, he turned his head back to the woman.

"Quincy, I know what you are." his words were a soft whisper, carried on the reiatsu tether between them. "What business do you have here?"

[WC: 683][TWC: 1,435]

Slowly the customers were tended to and she creeped her way to the counter one sale after the other. People were moving off to the side to wait for their order to be dispensed. It was nice just to relax a bit and not think on too much, her recent lifestyle change was actually a bit more stressful than she had thought it would be.

When she got to the counter she ordered a plain black coffee. From the expression on the attendant's face she got the impression that she had committed Starbuck Heresy or something but she really wasn't a fan of doctoring up her drinks with whipped cream and liquors let alone sprinkles or dyes. Paying with her debit card, she moved over to the side and waited for her drink.

The next man in line pretty much made up for the 'sin' she committed by ordering just coffee, with his Pink drink. She was about to stare out the window, but something tickled at her perceptions as she watched him walk over and lean against a table while his drink was prepared. Had he used Reishi just then while placing his order? That would be odd for sure, but was she just imagining things here?

She didn't have much time to ponder upon him for his name was called, before her own? She turned her eyes upon the Starbucks man and frowned guessing her sin had been greater than she imagined if it was being pushed to the back of the line like that. Surely they had just plain coffee and didn't have to brew it special.

But no, he grabbed his drink and moved on by her, and there it was again. That hint of more. Then she felt it, his Reiatsu latching on to her own and she didn't like it one bit. She turned her head so she could track him as he passed by growing more uncomfortable by the minute. It was not the smell that washed over her that was making her uncomfortable, though she didn't smoke herself she certainly had been around those who did enough to not find it too repugnant. She just didn't like the effrontery of his touch.

As her name was called she moved forward to take her coffee giving the man her thanks and that is when she heard him speak. Turning toward him, she held her tongue and moved forward. So soft and indistinct was his whisper, and yet she heard every word quite clearly and they sounded very much like a challenge to her.

Standing before him, she drew her cup in close to her chest and spoke quite softly to him in return. "Interesting", she replied with more than a hint of wariness in her voice. "Do you make it a habit to accost strange women often, or should I consider myself to be special?" The veins beneath her skin began to turn that characteristic shade of red as she flooded them with her Reiryoku with the activation of Blut Vene. It was little enough of a defense at her skill level, but it would hopefully be enough to keep this tether of his from penetrating her further. She had no idea what he was about nor what peculiar power he had at his command. But whatever his purpose in reaching out like that to her she was not pleased to feel his intrusion in the least.

Word Count: 574 + 1082 = 1656

The American had to try hard to stifle a laugh as the woman approached. Perhaps it was the fact that she was so on edge and he really, truly, meant her no harm, but he couldn't be certain. To make sure his efforts were a success he took a sip of his drink, the resulting gag was more than enough to suppress any laughter that may have tried to escape. There was a subtle glow of red beneath the woman's skin that drew his attention as she neared, his only guess was a variant of the fabled Quincy blood magic though he didn't know the technique's proper name.

"You seem... familiar." he scratched the back of his neck absent mindedly as he spoke, their conversation still sheltered by the reiatsu tether. "Not that I recall us ever meeting but something about you seems familiar. What brings you to Tokyo, if you don't mind my asking?"

He wasn't sure why he asked, it wasn't like he really cared. Though the thing he did care about wasn't likely an explanation that the woman could just hand him. Things were never that easy and if they were, the life he lived would be far less interesting. The idea came to him as he looked the woman over that if it weren't for the way he'd gotten her attention the two could almost be mistaken for flirting. It was his turn for a shade of red to take residence beneath his skin as a blush hovered just above the line of his collar.

"My name is Marshal, by the way." he offered a genuine smile and even his hand, but keeping up the reiatsu shroud around their conversation in the event her responses were sensitive. "I'm from the United States. Maybe that's why you seem so familiar, you don't seem to be from here. I mean--"

He vaguely gestured to the woman's clothing and face. Neither of them really fit in to the culture of the bustling metropolis. Though, neither of them stood too far out either. Both of them seemed to so easily blend into the background, just the tip of what he suspected connected the two of them.

"What do you say we go somewhere else to talk?" a nod of his head toward the door sent his mop of blonde hair flying before it settled again in its usual unkept style. The gesture reminded him again of flirting and the blush rose further up his neck in response. "I mean, if you want to anyway. Most people shouldn't be able to hear us as it is but there might be a place that's more comfortable? Somewhere... not so crowded."

[WC: 448][TWC: 1,883]

Observing the man she could tell quite clearly that he was pleased with himself, amused even, despite the pink monstrosity obscuring any trace of a grin. Some things you just couldn’t mask for his eyes gave it all away. She’d seen the same look upon the faces of her cousins when they were trying not to burst out laughing. Although frustrating, or even hilarious depending on the situation with her cousins, from a complete stranger it was borderline startling. She just blinked at him thinking, ‘did he just pull the don’t I know you from some place card on me?’ Tempted to let her sense of wariness turn to annoyance, something in the sudden coloring of his complexion gave her pause for further confusion.

“Marshall”, she found her voice to say. The proffered hand, that could not be ignored, prompted her to grasp his to shake. While his smile was friendly enough, his words of explanation did more to ease her sense of alarm in the sense he seemed to have no ill intent. Maybe he was even rethinking his approach, for his words just trailed off like he was at a loss for words. She imagined that it might just be a case of like to like in a strange land. What was odd was not they were both foreigners, but rather that they both were spiritually aware. As she processed his forwardness, she expanded her sense of perception trying to detect what he was doing with his Reiatsu.

“Uhm”, she began hesitantly, then blinked as his invitation to go speak came hard on the heels that no one could hear them here anyway. “I am Alyshea”, she stammered a bit hesitantly while she wondered how he could manage an apparent sound barrier. She didn’t seem to be hindered in her movement; ‘perhaps the tether of his Reiatsu was required to include her in his artificial bubble of silence?’ It would be insane to just wander off with this man someplace less crowded, that was exactly what they taught youngsters never to do. Stranger Danger, rang through her head, but she already knew she was going to agree; there were just too many questions she found springing to life she wished to ask of him. Intending to step through the door, turning to look at him once on the sidewalk, she said, “It might be nice to speak more openly. Someplace close, though. I’m not curious about you enough to just wander off to who knows where.”

Word Count: 418 + 1656 = 2104

"Fair enough." he smiled once more, turning to follow her out the door. "But you are curious, at least."

The last comment was lighthearted and did much to ease his own nervousness. Faint memories of his sister danced around his mind, echoes of name calling tickling his ears but quickly losing themselves to the drone of the surrounding traffic. Sun beat down on the streets, seeming to make the colors of the exotic advertisements all that much brighter and the brink in his hand sweat with condensation. The swathes of pedestrians seemed to part for a moment around the pair as they adjusted to the directional flow of people before they were inevitably swept up in the tide. 

Initially, there was a small jostle as they integrated themselves into the already established flow. He wasn't sure who but he felt himself bumped into someone and quickly mumbled an apology. After the initial ripples, the walk was smooth. Buildings passed by with so many posters and advertisements plastered on their exteriors that Marshal had a hard time determining which ones functioned as what. He laughed to himself as he realized he'd already gone too long without speaking to Alyshea. Though it'd only been a half a block, and that was being generous, he still felt bad. He was the one who'd contacted her after-all.

"Nice to meet you, Alyshea." he kept his words just above a whisper, despite the reiatsu tether still being active. The fact of the matter was he didn't know the area and didn't trust the people around them, not that she had to know that. "Really, it's nice to meet someone here who speaks decent English. You kinda get homesick after a while, you know?"

Spindly arms stretched toward the sky, fingers interlocked, before they bowed and fell to form a cradle for his head to rest in as he craned to scan the skyline. So much of this city was a mystery to him. Thus far little of what he'd expected had been validated. That left all that much more of it to be discovered, if he so wished to invest the time. To some that would be a dream but as it was he was still struggling to understand himself and the city he resided in, forget about a city that was easily twice its size.

"You ever get that way?" he turned to look at her through the upside down v his arm made "If you don't mind my asking, where is home for you?"

He turned his attention forward as he felt the people around them beginning to slow. Letting his arms fall, he instead stood on his tiptoes to see above the heads of the other pedestrians. An intersection was just ahead of them and, obviously, people needed to stop. As it stood the crosswalk directly ahead was the next one to change in their favor, they just needed to wait it out. "There's an intersection ahead, why don't we make a right once we cross? There doesn't seem to be as much foot traffic that way. Maybe we can even find a bench to sit on or something?"

[WC: 527][TWC: 2,410]

Aly grinned over at him in response to his smile and incontestable logic. “I cannot deny this, but then I am not the only one here with their curiosity in an active state”, she countered back with a bit of a laugh. Her initial wariness was waning and as they walked along in the warm sun she was quite content enough to do so in silence. Very much the tourist there was a plenitude of visual distractions to keep herself entertained long enough for them to find a good spot in which to visit. The pace was a bit faster though that what she was used to, the people all funneling by was certainly not a tide in which she wished to get swept away.

Merging was a bit touch and go for a moment but the pair seemed to navigate those small bumps readily enough. His words drew her focus to his face once she was safe against the press of people and she commented to him in reply, “It’s nice to meet you too, Marshall. I know what you mean though.” She instinctively put her hands in her pockets to reassure herself that her wallet had not been lifted in the crowd. “I tend to travel quite a bit so it wears on a person after a while and I do get to missing my home some”, she said.

Watching him raise his arms and put his hands behind his neck she thought he didn’t seem to have any worries about being targeted by pickpockets. More than willing to answer his question Alyshea divided her focus between his face and that of the street as she spoke. “Well I was born in Ohio, but I am from Germany. We live outside the city so commuting to work each day is kind of a thing” She noticed the crowd slowing a bit, Marshall’s words revealed the reason why. “Sure, that sounds like a plan. Where in the States are you from?”, she queried as the flow of people ceased altogether.

Soon enough the signal released the herd and she filed out into the intersection safe within the multitude. Turning right his prediction seemed to hold true and the crowd began to thin and so expanded the range of vision for the pair. She could see a park bench up ahead where a man was sitting, so that one would not do. Hopefully another would present itself further from the corner.

Word Count: 411 + 2104 = 2515

"Born and raised in Montana." he let the information slip easily enough, as though it didn't make his heart ache to think of his home. His arms fell again to his side as they began to follow the flow of bodies once more. "I wish there was more for me to tell you about it but my hometown is pretty normal. Tons of little Mom and Pop shops, little hole-in-the-wall diners and the like, but nothing overly worth mentioning."

Memories of the aforementioned shops and diners shot through his mind's eye. The faded colors of ages old wallpapers, the sweet smell of confections filling the air of the streets, the friendly faces that had greeted him countless times as he entered the establishments... in a blink they all faded and he found himself quickly approaching a vacant bench. The bench was a simple board set across two planters which found themselves filled with fallen leaves from the tree overhead. As Marshal set himself down onto it the board gave a small groan as it shifted inside of the slots in the planters.

"Why all the travel if it wears on you so much?" setting his nearly empty drink between his feet he turned to look at the quincy. She was like a foreground against the backdrop of bodies. Still to so many others, they'd both go unnoticed for one reason or another. Neither of them fit the setting in which they found themselves. "Personally, I don't think I could do it."

That is, of course, if he was given the option. When he'd traveled away from home the first time there had been no option.

He glanced at the spot beside him, an invitation for the woman to sit. "Come on, sit down. I don't know about you, but I think it's nice to get away from being shoved all over the place." 

[WC: 313][TWC: 2,723]

She smiled upon Marshall mentioning that he was from Montana, “Really? Well being from Ohio I know what you mean about small towns”, she shared. Her face was turned toward him flashing him a little smile for having imparted that small tid bit of information before setting her eyes to the task of not bumping into the people upon the sidewalk. Large crowds had never really disconcerted her much for even though her school year through to maturity were spent in a rural setting, much of her youth had been spent running the festival circuits as her mother drug them from town to town peddling her concoctions. Nothing brought country folk out of the woods quicker than a county fair unless it was the meat sale at the local grocery store.

When he finally paused to approach the bench, she took in the setting finding it nice enough. Public in case she had need to slip away quickly, though she wasn’t getting the sense that would be necessary. For all intents and purposes he seemed to be without malice, at least she hoped he was as he presented himself. Watching him take a seat, she grew slightly concerned voicing this aloud. “Do you think it will hold the both of us?”, she inquired as she moved forward. Turning round she stooped to lower herself upon the board. Sure enough it repeated its minor groans as it made the needed adjustments, but it held true.

Relaxing her posture, having set her hands to the board with arms stiffened as she took her seat, she now let her hands rest upon her lap thinking about his last question. “Well part of it is I am just being a whiner”, she chuckled. “Who wants to work when they could be goofin off having fun doing other things?” Aly tilted her head toward her shoulder slightly as she shrugged dismissively. “Part of it is a sense of obligation, family business and all. It’s truly not all that bad as I make it seem. I am getting to see the world, after all.”

She merely smiled in reply to his comment about being jostled around going back to her earlier curiosity in her mind. “So yeah, I am over hereon business. What of yourself, though? If you don’t mind me asking?”, she inquired using his same phrase on purpose. Was his reason for speaking to her as innocent as it seemed? Just the desire to speak to someone that reminded them of home? It all seemed normal enough so far. Aly was not an overly paranoid personality, but neither was she blithely ignorant of the dangers strangers could present, especially those who possessed spiritual powers.

Word Count: 450 + 2515 = 2965

"I can understand the whining and I can't say I blame you for it." his lips curled into a smile. He could only imagine how he'd feel in her situation, flying all over the world only to have to get straight down to business as soon as the wheels of the plane touched the ground. To have everything so close at hand and yet so far away. It was no wonder she complained. "I hope the business you're over here on is good and that you're at least getting something out of it."

The fullbringer had already braced himself for the impending question but still, as it struck, it all but took his breath away. It felt as though someone had knocked the wind out of him and his brain screamed for oxygen. Without a doubt it was hard to answer but he refused to let himself keep living in the past. "I made some mistakes."

"I had to leave my home because of something I did," he turned to better face Alyshea, the smile on his face turning into a sad one. "I came here running from what I did. Here is home. It's not one I would have picked for myself but this place is where I feel I have to be."

Marshal's words were soft spoken but full of heart. It wasn't the first time his heart was laid bare but, in a way, it was the first time he did so willingly. Sekai and Alex were both leagues above him. If he wanted to get anywhere with them, he'd known he had to make an effort to show them he was genuine. He'd had to tell them his story, at least a part of it. Alyshea, on the other hand, was someone like him. Their similarities had yet to fully surface but he felt a connection, be it through intuition or through his ability to read souls. He didn't care how or why he felt it. All that mattered was that he did.

"Sorry," he reached to pick up his drink, turning himself away from her once more. The plastic cup had begun to sweat condensation that slipped between his thin fingers. His dark eyes scanned some of the passers by, wondering where to take the conversation now without scaring the woman off. "that was probably more than you signed up for."

The tip of the straw disappeared into his mouth and before long the level of the disgusting drink in the cup began to fall to near nothingness in the silence. What remained of the drink and the ice used to chill it rattled as the mortal set the cup back between his feet. There was, maybe, fifteen feet between himself and the nearest garbage can but he couldn't bring himself to move toward it. Part of him, as usual, was afraid. For once it wasn't about the crowds and for that he was grateful. If his feet moved his body away from the bench, his heart thought it may lose one of the few solid connections it could make in the foreign land.


[WC: 519][TWC: 3,242]  

Alyshea smiled in return, as he sympathized with her a bit, and she couldn’t help but think that he was indeed as he seemed. She imagined it was as he said, just good to talk to someone from back home for the sake of familiarity with the past. That showed a bit of sentimentality on his part. Missing her family and friends was not really something she had to contend with much for her circle of friends was quite small mostly being comprised of relatives anyway. They were always around. That was something good about all these trips for it gave her time to rely on herself and put her own needs first for a change. His question prompted her glib reply, “Oh yes, business is good. I have a fine career as an indentured daughter to look forward to.” She quirked a grin with a slight roll of the eyes to add a bit of sarcasm to the exchange.

Manner dictated she respond with a question of her own and a general inquiry into why he was here instead of back home had been the most obvious thing. When he began to share some of his own circumstances in return she was sorry she had ever asked the question in the first place. His whole mien had changed as though he were trying to remain stoic after having been slapped. It had certainly not been her intent to touch upon a raw subject nor to put him ill at ease.

That he shared such a thing with her had not been necessary. He could have made up anything and with her being a stranger she never would have known the difference. He had run from his mistake and that was certainly something she could relate to. Then he seemed to regret having spoken and she felt compelled to put his mind at ease. “Oh no Marshall, don’t think a thing of it. I did ask, yes?” She snorted softly letting her eyes fall to the cup in her hand shaking her head. “Everyone has been there one time or another, I should think. I mean you can’t get to be our age without having screwed up somewhere along the line. Be glad you are smart enough to see it instead of one of those people who go around blaming their troubles on anyone but themselves.”

Her words did not make light of the situation, however; she knew a person didn’t run from the past if there hadn’t been something drastic going on to force that last resort into action. Hadn’t that been one of her go-to reactions? No, she hadn’t cut herself off from her family for that had not been her desire to live cut off from her father and cousins. But then a person didn’t have to actually move to run miles away from facing their mistakes. You could run from the truth all from the comfort of your own home. Her eyes lifted to his form as he shifted from her to place the empty cup upon the ground at his feet. What could she say that would not belittle whatever it was that he had done? Did he, like herself, have the onus of another’s death on his hands? Sighing, if that were the case, she knew there really was nothing to say that would help.

“I guess the best we can do is just try to do better in the future”, her shoulders shrugged slightly not so much in despair over the bitterness of the past as being resigned to having to live with it. She had to wonder what he did with his spiritual abilities though. Such power and sensitivity didn’t necessarily mean he waged war upon the Hollow Kin as the Quincy did. This was not something she felt comfortable asking and preferred to let him bring up their more obvious common ground for discussion.

Word Count: 652 + 2965 = 3617