Lazy Days

The young man sat with one of his knees up and his other foot on the chair across from him. His sketchbook balanced on his knee as he drew. He was enjoying his relaxing day off, he had moved out from his parents place cause he couldn't handle the stress that the family thought he was under that they actually placed him into. His friend had died yes, but he had taken it for what it was and moved on as best as he could. His friend would rather he be happy and party then to mourn and grieve over the loss of someone who would not return to them. He shifted moving his sketchbook aside and reached over to the table to grab his cup of tea. As he leaned back he looked up, his black bangs shifting out of his face. The sky was relatively cloudy but for the most part he enjoyed that. Bringing his cup up to his mouth he took a sip of his tea before setting it back down and returning to his drawing. He had seen the shinigami and hollow fighting the occasional human who could combat a hollow, he had actually seen them a lot more lately since he felt as if he too had powers.

When he had finished his drawing for the most part he put his sketchbook aside. What exactly did he want to do with his day off. He let his mind wander on the possibilities of what he actually could do. I guess the first thing he could do was go back inside his apartment and put on some pants instead of lounging around in his pajamas all day. He picked up his pencils and eraser placing them on top of his sketch book and carried them inside along with his cup of tea. His apartment wasn't anything special, a bedroom, a bathroom, a small kitchen connected with the living area of the apartment with a balcony. To top it all, it was a mess, he was horrible at keeping his stuff where it belonged and clothes were scattered all across his room, towels lay on the floor in his bathroom, dishes weren't completely piled up but obviously needed cleaning, and the living area, pillows were scattered about and papers from school seemingly everywhere.

He slid a hand through his hair as his emerald eyes glanced about his room for something more appropriate for just window shopping around the town. A red jacket on top of his beaten up grenade shirt? He had worn it the other day and ended up sleeping in it, but.. he loved it too much to consider changing. His pajama bottoms were the next problem he had to find something else to wear, he was already wearing a jacket so shorts were out of the question. He settled on a beaten up pair of blue jeans with the knee worn through on the right side. Slipped into his pair of nice black vans and walked out the door with an ear bud in his left ear and hobbled down the stairs smiling to the click and clank of his dog tags. When he reached the bottom of the stairs is when he finally acknowledged his dangling wallet. Looking back up the stairs and under them to make sure he hadn't lost anything he nodded to himself and slipped his wallet into his back pocket and continued on his way into down town. Something had to be going on today.

He knew the town had a shopping center that had various stores, an open air market, and a mall and near each other. It was a paradise for the college student who needed to find a part-time job and still have stuff to do. He had found flyers for events that he had never imagined possible, and was surprised he had never actually heard of before. Yet recently since he had moved there the place had gone from spotted incidents of garden variety hollows to an influx of garden variety hollows that it wasn't an odd sight to see a shinigami standing on post waiting to ensure the safety of the humans nearby and allow those humans with powers to remain what they were doing. He almost wondered if it was because he didn't know how to control the energy that seeped from himself, but at the same time that shouldn't be the case, or he would have always been like that right? He second guessed himself a lot of the time when he thought of it.

As his thoughts were running through he felt his stomach shift as he felt a hollow coming through, the feeling of the air becoming heavier still hadn't settled with him. He figured it'd come with experience that it'd stop, when he looked up to the sky it looked as if it had gotten darker and he saw a tear that a hollow crawled out from before it closed. Nothing too strange he thought still, he looked around and saw the shinigami stationed to the area already moving towards it and he continued on with his shopping as if there wasn't something above him right now that wanted to eat him.  Yet when he did glance back up he noticed the hollow looking right at him, as if it knew he was a faucet left on, that he didn't know how to turn himself off. He shivered as he watched the hollows mask get sliced in half and the creature vanish while staring right at him the entire time. He could keep second guessing himself but something or someone would find him eventually. Right?

Gaige was out on the town for materials. Generally, she would order to her home but sometimes going and browsing hardware stores for the right type of copper wire or resistors was fun. And sometimes, she ran into interesting events in the city. Like a hollow appearing and going for the young man who wasn't controlling his power very well. A shinigami killed it before it could do any harm though. She shrugged and walked on, when another hollow appeared. This one, she sensed as she looked at it, was a good deal more powerful. And it went for the shinigami first.

She actually wasn't surprised when it smashed the black clad warrior out of the air and turned towards the boy. Gaige watched the scene unfold, stepping back into a doorway as other humans scattered and the hollow went for the boy. "Your aware, you keep bringing them here, right?" She asked as the hollow slashed at him with claws. She didn't help him though. "You should probably learn to control that." The hollow attacked again and she flaired her power, just a little even though it hurt, and the hollow looked at her.

She jumped out of the way as it attacked, and moved across the street. "Are you going to fight it or what? It's trying to kill me, and you brought it here. And that shinigami's not getting back up any time soon." She snapped, even though she'd distracted it on purpose. She could probably kill it with a single bullet, but she found herself curious about the boy's powers. He was probably the strongest advent human in the area, though that really wasn't saying much.

He shook his head is disbelief. He hadn't even felt the appearance of this one, or was that the point of the last one. He continued to shake his head in disbelief as he watched the shinigami get swatted out of the sky like a fly. As it turned towards him he knew for certain the recent attacks were because of him and he had a sense of responsibility in it all. He heard the screams and everyone running, bumping into him but his eyes were locked on the hollow that seemed to be staring right back at him as it began to descend. He heard a woman's voice call out to him from a store nearby, "Your aware, you keep bringing them here, right?" As her words finished before he could even answer he was answering the hollows attack by leaping back trying to stay away from the things claws, "You should probably learn to control that." As the hollow went to swipe at him again and he had already begun to step back he felt a flair of power. His eyes filled with hope as he thought someone had come to save him.

When he realized it was the woman who had been talking to him he felt almost relieved that someone understood his predicament. On top of that that she was probably someone who could help him out of this current one. Yet when he dodged the attack instead of fighting his heart sunk, she didn't plan on fighting it did she. "Are you going to fight it or what? It's trying to kill me, and you brought it here. And that shinigami's not getting back up any time soon." He shook his head and what it was he could do, "I don't know how to control my powers and I don't understand how exactly to fight these things." He sprinted over the shinigami's body and shook his head in frustration. He knew a shinigami's zanpakuto was their power however he also knew it was a weapon that could harm a hollow. He took the katana in his hands and steadied himself, he hadn't ever actually held a weapon in his hands before. He'd watched the kendo club once or twice and slightly understood what it meant to use a blade. "But your right this is my responsibility. So with this blade of those that have protected me from the danger I bring. I vow here and now to pay them back, or die knowing I tried instead of hiding from danger I brought upon others." With that he held the blade out before him, he knew in his hands it was only a blade, nothing special, no powers. Yet he also knew it was better than trying to punch that mask with his bare hands.

He concentrated slightly and let what he believed was his powers flare up to try and draw the hollows attention back towards him. He didn't want to be a nuisances to the woman who had saved him momentarily and given him a slight push to resolving his own problems.

Interesting, he didn't beg or plead, he stepped up to the plate, grabbing the shinigami's weapon. Gaige smiled a little. She decided to help him out a little. "Hey, catch." She said, tossing him a sleek pistol with a hand guard. "The safety's off. Pull the trigger once to fire a single shot. Hold it to fire a charged shot. And trust me, you'll need it to kill that thing." She said. She stepped back and watched the fight proceed, though she was more than ready to jump in if it didn't go in his favor.

The hollow barely gave him time to gather weapons, it lunged at him, slamming its claws downwards at the man. For its size, it was fast, but it also seemed to be strong considering if the attack missed the man, it would hit the ground and crack the concrete. The hollow jumped away and its mouth snapped open, a red orb of energy charging. Gaige flaired her power again and it turned firing the cero at her. She dropped a bubble shield at the attack was nullified easily. "Here now, none of that." She said. The hollow returned to attacking the man with its claws.

He caught the glimpse of metal from the corner of his vision. Keep his eyes locked on the hollow he put out his right hand to catch the gun. Before he could orientate the gun in his hand the hollow dove towards him, claws flared out. He had jumped back and noticed the hollows strength as the concrete cracked. No way was he going to stop that without breaking a bone at best.

His eyes shot open as he saw the ball of red energy form in it's mouth. He could sense the deadly intent of the creature and realized how much it wanted him gone. Then he felt the woman's energy spike again and he felt the deadly intent vanish, yet he flinched when he saw the cero fire at the woman. She threw something down and the attack dissipated in an instant.

When he finally recovered his demeanor the hollow was back on him swinging away with it's claws. He continued to dodge before spotting an opening. He leaped forward and brought the blade up to cut the hollows arm, while raising an already charging pistol up towards the mask when he released the shot he brought the blade down across the hollows body trailing the blade from the upper right shoulder along the hollows left arm before leaping back. He began to charge another shot and waited for the hollows quick response.

He caught the hollow right under the arm, and blasted it in the face. blood and mask chucks exploded outwards. The hollow, still flailing, was cut open from shoulder to shoulder. It stumbled, and collapsed with a heave. It began to desintegrate and purify quickly, due to being struck with the shinigami's blade. Gaige clapped her hands. "I am impressed, though i can safely say that lovely pistol of mine did the brunt of the work. Still, you used it well kid. Why don't you keep it? I can always make another. I've actually been thinking about making some improvements to it so this is the perfect opertunity."

She looked at the shinigami who was now stirring a little. He looked badly wounded though. "you should probably return that blade and let him get home to lick his wounds." She said as she helped the bewildered shinigami to his feet. "I must stay here to protect this place."  the shinigami said. "Not at all, I'll keep an eye on the place for you." The shinigami went, reluctantly.

"Right, now that he's gone, what do you intend to do? You can keep that pistol and use it to protect this place from yourself, and probably get killed in the process, or you could come with me, and I'll show you how to control your spiritual energy, and how to fight allot more effectively. Your fast, so we can work with that. Plus if you like guns, I've got plenty more, for sale."

He gave the shinigami their sword back before they left. He didn't really know whether to thank them or not before they left and so he stayed silent. He was still a little bewildered by the fact that he actually killed the hollow, even if it was with someone elses weapons. When he watched the shinigami go he shook slightly, part of him felt bad about being the reason they had to leave to recover. He turned towards the woman as she said he could keep the gun, "Thank you Ma'am. Uh.. if you don't mind me asking, what's your name? I'm Cain Serakov. Thank you for the help again." He thought about leaving with her, he really was a hazard to this place and he must have gotten lucky this time to have been capable of taking down the hollow. He turned to look back in the direction of his apartment and his college. None of it would truly matter if he did kick the bucket or if people kept getting attacked because of him. "If I do come along with you, what exactly would I need to bring? I guess a better question would be, where are we going? Cause I am coming along with you."

He looked around the market place and kinda sighed, he technically was the cause of all the damage here. At least the only person injured happened to be one that was meant to deal with such things. If someone else had been hurt he wouldn't have been able to forgive himself for his carelessness on not trying to find someone to help him sooner.

"Gaige Ashe. Your welcome, by the way. You have an impressive amount of power for a powerless human, it would be a shame to let it go to waste, right?" She said. She wondered what Laura would think about this idea of hers, but the red head would probably enjoy it, if she was done fawning over Tadatomo. Gaige shrugged.

"Anything you want. You'll be away for a while. I dont live in the city. And to answer that question, we'll be going to my work shop, where I can train you safely. Then maybe we'll go to africa, fight a warband or something. I might have a contract or two to take out a warlord out that way. I'll see if you any good with a gun first, before that."

Gaige used her Artemis to locate Cain's house by address and started walking in that direction. "Or we could take a trip into Heuco Mundo. I know an arrancar who could take us in. Might be a good way to get you trained up. Lets start simple though." She said. She stopped outside his front door without a word and waited for him to open up.

He kinda scratched his head for a moment and considered if he thought his apartment was presentable, then decided that he himself wasn't presentable after he had made a fool out of himself before manning up to fight the hollow. He flipped through his keys until he got to his apartment key and unlocked the door and pushed it open, "Place is a mess but its home. I guess I'll pack a bit while you tell me a bit more about what you have in store."

He took a step in and grabbed his back pack and continued to speak, "For instance, what was this about going to Africa to fight a war band?" He sounded genuinely confused and he was, what did teaching him how to use his powers or control them have to do with Africa. He just shook his head and grabbed his sketch book and some pencils stuffing them into a part of his bag. He looked at his clothes and then yelled back to Gaige, "Do I need to bring changes of clothes for a while or can I just get something from around where ever your work shop is?" He was treating this as if he was going to someones across country to learn another language. Guess he kinda was, going to learn how to control his powers and all it basically all would be new to him.

Gaige didn't even notice the mess. her workshop.... well, she wasn't going to talk about it until he seen it. She stood to the side and answered his questions. "Well thats self explanatory, right? We go in with guns, and shoot people. Train you to stay alive with limited supplies. Its fun actually. Great way of making money, though in this case we'll be training. I'd get laughed at if I brought you on a real job." She said. "Don't worry, you probably wont die." She said.

He asked about clothes. "Thats up to you. It'll save coming back here every few days, But there's plenty of room at my workshop, there'll be a place for you to call your own, rent free." she said. "When we get to my place we should look into making you a melee weapon to go with that pistol. Or you can try convince me to let you take a power sword. That'll cost you something but I'll let you use it till you can pay for it. Your choice. I do promise my weapons are quality, they'll never break unless your using them wrong."

He shook his head at Gaige remarking so carelessly about the act of just walking into a country with weapons and killing others. He could understand killing hollows and relatively their thought process. But fighting other humans, he kept his head shaking for a second longer. Guess it wouldn't be training if it were easy. He looked around at the clothes he had and shrugged, he figured he could get away with three to four changes of clothes. Stuffing them into his backpack he looked around for anything else he might want, he knew he'd want his sketching set and utensils. He smiled as he thought about the places they would go, yes it'd be for training but the raw beauty of the world around them might drown out some of it. He couldn't lie he was pretty excited.

"So Gaige, wanna tell me about your workshop then? About what you do for a living to be capable of thinking of a training routine like this? You know, now that I kinda don't have any going back that is. I'm in a hundred percent." He shook his own head with a smile painted across his face like a child in a candy shop, he was genuinely happy that he was about to have something new introduced into his life. Something to get everything off his mind.

Gaige shrugged. "No point in telling you when I can show you." She said as she waited for him to gather everthing. "As for that, well I'm a mercenary. I kill people for a living, or blow things up, or take down bad guys, anything people pay me to do. Except harm kids, I'm not into that and I'll shoot anyone for asking me to." She said. She picked up a picture and examined it. "Killing hollow is easy. Its fine to shoot something thats not human in the face, but failing to pull the trigger when that something is a sinner, or a rogue advent human? Thats how you get killed." she said.

"I learned that young. If its not something you think you can handle then maybe this is a bad idea." She said. He seemed to be in so she nodded. She stood up. "You ready? Lets go then." She said, and she led him away from his old life.

-Some time later, Arizona-

Giage stepped out her car as they arrived at her workshop and waved for Cain to follow. The building was a big house and a large car garage next to it. It was well out of the way of any settlements in the desert. Despite the heat there was a large garden around. "This is it. Ranch Ashe. You wouldn't expect grass in the desert but I build specialised high tech humidifiers that gather water from the air, very quickly. Its also shielded from prying eyes, the coalition and satalites cant see this place. All anyone sees is desert from up there. I like my privacy." She lead him towards the house.

"First thing's first, I'll introduce you to the team. If their even here. And you should probably meet my father two. Then i'll show you your room. You can take a nap or what ever, while I go take care of something." She looked at him, and grinned. "You need a sword."

He understood the need to take down those that would instead harm others. He had at one point been one of those people, not to the extent of what she was talking about, but even emotional pains went far in the life of a human. He picked up his bags as Gaige finished and followed her out of his apartment. He asked for her to wait and notified the main office of his departure and that he didn't know when he was going to return. Then followed Gaige where ever she was taking him.

When they arrived in Arizona he was kinda surprised stepping out of the car to see the big house, "So this place is private enough that no one knows about it. That's kinda cool. " He followed her towards the house, "Team? I'm not going to lie, I assumed you worked on your own, but it's understandable that you have a team." When she brought up the sword he let a smile spread across his face, "The shinigami's sword did well back there a few days ago but I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be worse off with a sword of my own." He looked at Gaige wondering what else she was going to give him now that he was under her protection.

[color:b32b=#blue]"I did once. But then I met Laura and Liv and theres no getting rid of them. Even if it costs me a fortune on Chinese food, they're practically sisters." She said. She said as she led him around the house. Then she brought him to a room. "Hmm.. Dads not here. Well, you can meet him when he gets back. Just... Dont surprise him. He's as protective as Liv's dad. Who is the king of hueco mundo if your wondering. Anyway, settle in, take a rest. Training begins soon." She said grinning.

(I'ma end this here, Ryo if you want to start the next thread go on ahead instead of replying to this.)