damned_institute | Dayshift 42: Morning

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Dayshift 42: Morning - Magus Park

Senna stepped off the bus to wind blowing through the clothes she was given. A sad face at one of the nurses allowed her a long red scarf as well, and once she had draped it around her neck and let it hang down her back, she had trotted off.

The park she had saw last time seemed a good place to be on the look-out for the chicks from last night. It was close to the buses, and a big enough place that if they remembered that they had a race date, it would suit its purpose. The girl ran to a place in the middle of the field and waited there, shifting her weight from side to side. After a while, this wasn't enough, and Senna traded back and forth between jogging in place and acrobatics--the easy flips and cartwheels keeping her warm.

Her mind had changed in the night before. She had gotten a taste of what leadership entailed, and she wasn't sure she had rose to the occasion or not. She knew she had tried her best, and had been willing to give as much as she had, but it hadn't been enough. She knew this. Hokuto, at least, had gotten hurt, and in the end, they still hadn't explored more than the schoolhouse. They really needed a different approach with that place.

She went back and forth internally, body going through the motions and reflexes of her movements.

[for... Falis, Hokuto, Meche, and Soma?--and down to here]

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"...no, we haven't," Momo replied. The man was giving off a very odd feeling to the shinigami, but it was only right for her to be polite. Maybe it was just the awkwardness surrounding the current circumstances.

"Please, sit down? It's not as cold under the tree," she offered.

Mmm, the human was asking him to come closer. Well, who was ZEX to refuse such a kind offer! He was quite happy to join her on the bench, sitting perhaps a little too close to her in the process. Surely she wouldn't mind!

"Ah, thank you. I'm not used to this sort of weather." Now that he was closer to the human, his smile became more unconscious and subsequently a bit more natural. It only grew wider as he slowly began to invade her personal space. "It's a bit more difficult to stay warm than I thought it might be... mmm, what's your name?"

Momo smiled as the man sit down and then it wavered a bit as he ended up being closer than generally accepted in polite company. Perhaps this man just wasn't aware that he was sitting as close as he was. Humans tended to have different customs depending on where they are from.

"I believe the nurses were handing out extra jackets. You could always ask for one from them," Momo replied, shifting a bit away from the man a bit. "And my name is Hinamori Momo. You are?"

Way too close. The shinigami tucked her hair behind her ear as she turned more toward the man, hoping he'd not move any closer as her knee would give her a bit of a buffer. At least that's what she thought...

She wasn't shoving him away or shouting at him, and frankly that was all the encouragement ZEX needed to keep doing exactly what he was doing. If she shifted away from him, it was very easy to follow...

"Mmm, I may take them up on that offer." Although with the way ZEX said it, one would think the nurses were offering something much more interesting than an extra jacket. "I didn't know this body would be so... sensitive." Leering at her.

Another odd and long human name, although it almost sounded managable near the end. One letter too long, but MOM was at least could almost be a VUX name. ZEX kept smiling at her. "Mmm, I'm Admiral ZEX, formerly of the VUX military." No need to warn her not to be frightened. She seemed rather receptive to him so far as she'd turned towards him, although that did mean her leg was somewhat in the way... not that it wouldn't be an easy obstacle to get around should it come to that.

Momo blinked slowly. That was... She suddenly felt like she should have taken one of those jackets when she got off the bus just to have something to pull tight about her at that moment. That look was... Well, at least he didn't seem to be undressing her with his mind. Not that there were any curves on her body worth doing such a thing for.

"Pleased to meet you, ZEX," Momo replied. There was something familiar about that name, but she couldn't place it. Maybe it'd come to her later. The fact that he wasn't human, from the phrasings he used earlier, allowed her to shrug off the odd looks for the moment.

"I'm afraid I'm not familiar with the VUX military, ZEX-san. I am one of the shinigami here - one of the vice captains."

ZEX definitely wasn't familiar enough with human mannerisms or expressions to notice that he was making her uncomfortable, and it was debatable whether or not he would have stopped had he known.

"Mmm, I'm pleased to meet you as well." Very pleased by the tone in his voice, and he was still smiling too widely. "There are so many different people to meet here... I haven't had the chance to know many female humans, I'm afraid. Hopefully that will change..." Still leering at her.

As all humans here did (inexplicably and impossibly), she was speaking VUK ZIX. Normally he tried not to think too much about it as it would just give him a headache, but she did something to his name that caught his attention. Did she give him an honorific? Apart from the few humans that used his title, she would be the first to do so. Even if it was a fairly mild one (no ZEX-KYR, certainly), it was enough to startle him out of his ogling and into a blank, confused stare.

"Ah..." A moment to try and gather his thoughts, then he caught the second sentence. "A shinigami?" Awkwardly sounding out the word one syllable at a time. He'd exchanged notes with one of them on the bulletin board once, hadn't he? "I think I've spoken to one of you before... you have something to do with 'ghosts', don't you?" From what he could recall, anyway.

Momo swallowed and shifted a bit more away from ZEX. She hoped he'd stop soon as she was running out of room on the bench.

"Yes, though we use call them spirits as opposed to ghosts," she replied. "And I'm sorry for the mistake, but I am not human. I was one many years ago, but no longer. Though it is an honest mistake, so please do not worry about it."

Moving away from him again! An invitation to pursue, as far as ZEX was concerned. Humans did seem to like being chased! They could be so shy-

"You're not human?" Well, that changed some things, depending. Was one many years ago... "I wasn't... aware that one could change from human into something else. Well, aside from whatever methods this place uses to change us into these." ZEX indicated his body. "Although I'm not very familiar with your current species, I must admit." He wasn't quite sure if he was convinced about them having something to do with spirits or ghosts or whatever humans wanted to call them, as he was still somewhat doubtful that either could exist on the physical plane. His invisible admirer may have possessed some extraordinary qualities, but she was still human. Or human enough.

Although come to think of it, he'd had yet to cough up any hair today... interesting. Maybe she didn't want to wander too far from the Institute?

"How does one become a shinigami?" Perhaps some kind of ritual? Hmm.

The smile on Momo's face was a little strained at this point. If she moved any further down the bench, she'd reach the rail and then she'd be trapped. Deciding she wanted the potential escape route, she forced herself to stay put when ZEX crowded her again.

"Well, it's a bit of a process," she explained. "I died as a human and then the strength of my soul allowed me to endure the training needed to harness the raw power of my soul to become shinigami." It was a much more complicated procedure than that, but she wasn't about to explain it to ZEX.

"I could have chosen to be reincarnated as a human again, but I chose to become a protector of humans and aid their spirits when they died."

Ah, it was lovely to be so close to a human! At least it was distracting him from the cold, which was nice... surely humans had some way to share heat if their bodies lost it so quickly? That was something that might be worth exploring...

But not at the moment. ZEX listened to her explanation with something of a skeptical expression, although he didn't know it. He was pretty sure his countrymen would not believe humans had souls, or much less an afterlife of their own. Then again, other VUX saw humans as little more than animals, and ZEX certainly disagreed with them there.

Not that that made her explanation make any sense. He had no idea what she was talking about or describing. He took a few moments to think about it, then said, "Why would a spirit need aid?"

"Sometimes, when a human dies, their spirit stays on the living world instead of crossing over to the spirit world," Momo continued to explain. At least this angle of conversation had ZEX occupied with his thoughts and not whatever it was he wanted from her.

"Usually it's because the soul has a very strong emotional tie to someone or something in the living world, something they just can't let go. It's part of a shinigami's duty to help these spirits gross over before they corrupt and turn into an eater of souls we call a Hollow."

None of that made any sense. ZEX listened to her explanation, his skeptical expression not changing. Well, a complicated and nonsensical religion would fit their species... humans themselves were rather complicated and nonsensical.

Well, whether or not this human was a delusional and religious zealot or not, they were still nearby and still very easy to harass. ZEX leaned in a little closer to her, and heightened proximity made his smile almost too natural. "A Hollow, hmm?" As an innuendo, then something about that term clicked. He'd heard it somewhere before, hadn't he...? "Heh, I think someone was trying to warn me about those a few days ago..." Still smiling too much to sound concerned.

"What would you do with a... Hollow?" Although by the tone in ZEX's voice, he was asking something very different.

Okay, that was it. Momo could not put up with the uncomfortable situation any longer. She quickly stood up and smoothed the front of her shirt down.

"We kill them, ZEX-san," she replied, her tone cooling a bit. "Doing so cleanses the soul and allows it to go to either Soul Society or Hell, depending on how the human had lived its life."

She looked back toward the buses. "Now, if you'll excuse me, there's someone waiting for me. It's been a pleasure." Without waiting for a response, Momo took her leave.

ZEX was about to comment about how it didn't make sense to kill something that was supposedly already dead, but then the human stood before he could say anything.

"It's..." But she was already walking away. Well, that was certainly rude. ZEX hadn't even done anything wrong! At least, not that he knew of. He hadn't even touched her, even though it was very tempting.

Well, there were plenty of other humans here, and no doubt they'd be more receptive to his advances! ZEX brushed himself off and stood. No sense in dwelling over one that didn't appreciate what he offered.

Not that that meant that he wouldn't keep pursuing her should the opportunity arise later, but for the moment ZEX comforted himself with thoughts of other, more willing humans and decided to move on.

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Dayshift 42: Morning - Magus Park

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