Mealtime (Open)

[Crazy]

It was a nice sunny afternoon in Karakura Town AT THE TIME OF THE MURDER. Actually that was last night. Plus it was raining pretty hard at the time. And according to the news reports it was labelled as a suicide. SO NOW IT WAS A NICE SUNNY AFTERNOON IN KARAKURA TOWN WITHOUT ANY MURDER. Which is always considered a nice thing for property values and other community factors.

Having decided to take a nice afternoon stroll, Crazy found himself walking down a sidewalk. Stepping past the few other pedestrians who were on this particular stretch of sidewalk, Crazy reflected on the nice things in life. There was candy and music and not being attacked by cannibalistic spirit monsters. It was rather funny how people didn't appreciate the finer things in life (such as not being stalked by cannibalistic spirit monsters).

HOWEVER DISASTER SOON STRUCK CRAZY OUT OF HIS CANDY AND NOT BEING EATEN BY CANNIBALISTIC SPIRIT MONSTER RELATED DAYDREAMS. What diabolical event could perform such a feat? Well the answer was quite simple. CRAZY WAS STARTING TO GET HUNGRY. This was truly a disaster of epic proportions.

Looking around, Crazy soon caught sight of a few restraunts that looked good. There was a sushi place, a fast food restraunt, a cafe and a candy store. But now Crazy had an even greater problem in front of him. WHICH RESTRAUNT WOULD HE CHOOSE? Standing still in the middle of the sidewalk, Crazy let the other pedestrians walk past him AS HE WRESTLED WITH THIS LIFE CHANGING DECISION.

[kiyomizusan]

Radiant sunlight descended from the heavens and brightened the busy streets of Karakura town, masking the fact that a grisly murder had occurred just the night before. As if attempting to cleanse the very city itself of this crime, the intense rays had caused the day to be decidedly hot. So hot in fact that many people in the city had taken the day off work to spend the day outside, making the streets even more crowded than usual.

In particular, a certain silver-haired schoolgirl by the name of Tama Kiyomizu was out and about this day, slowly walking through the streets in search of a quick job she could do in order to purchase food. It had been nearly a week since she had last eaten anything, and even though her body operates differently than a normal person's, it has reached it's limit.

After an hour or so longer she arrives in the restaurant district of the city, this district also being particularly busy for the heat, especially the several fast-food places that served soft-serve ice cream. It sounded nice, the cold confection running down your throat and cooling off the rest of your body in an act of defiance against nature's desire to keep you hot. Were it not for the fact that Tama doesn't have a penny, she also may have purchased an amount.

But it soon turned out to be that she simply no longer had the strength to continue on, and so she collapsed upon the sidewalk at someone's feet. A stranger, it didn't matter anymore, she was too tired to worry about what would happen afterwards.

[Crazy]

As he stood distracted by this LIFE CHANGING DECISION, Crazy found himself oblivious to the people who were passing by him. This included the young lady who collapsed at his feet. For Crazy was dealing with a much more important issue. But eventually Crazy came to a conclusion after a good THIRTY SECONDS OF THOUGHT. He would go to the cafe and then make a quick stop at the candy store. He might even get a bit of candy for later depending on the price. TRULY THIS WAS A MAGNIFICENT PLAN.

That was when Crazy noticed the young lady who had passed out right in front of him thirty seconds ago. "IT WASN'T ME. NO ONE SAW ME KILL WHOEVER THIS IS AND THEY CAN'T PROVE IT." Crazy thought to himself. However to his suprise (and after he had begun to make plans to lay low in Uzbekistan) Crazy realized that the person in front of him wasn't in fact a corpse. TODAY WAS STILL A MURDER-FREE SUNNY AFTERNOON IN KARAKURA TOWN.

However that raised a very important question. Why did this person choose this particular spot to take a nap? During a sunny day like this the poor girl would undoubtedly get a nasty sunburn. Plus a sidewalk wasn't very sanitary. WHO KNOWS WHAT KIND OF DIABOLICAL GERMS WERE CRAWLING ON THE GROUND DOING WHATEVER IT IS THAT GERMS DO.

"Excuse me Miss. It really isn't a good idea to take a nap here. There are germs and you might get a sunburn." Crazy said to the mystery person as he repeatedly poked the back of her head. Undoubtedly this would help wake the poor lady up. Besides Crazy knew from personal experience that poking someone was the best way to wake them up. Well that and someone kicking down a door and firing a gun. People would be suprised by how quick they can wake up and react to a situation like that. But for now CRAZY WOULD HEROICALLY POKE THE BACK OF THE STRANGER PERSON'S HEAD UNTIL SHE WOKE UP.

[kiyomizusan]

Tap. Poke. Prod.

A series of sudden jabs to the back of her skull returned the young girl back to the real world again. She groaned a little as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and turning paler than she already was before shakily attempting to get up to her feet. Failing, she falls back down onto her rear, leaving her there until she looked up to see who or what was poking her.

"Oh... Sorry..."

She took a moment to examine this person, who seemed to be a man in his early twenties with red hair and a long jacket on. A look on his face made it seem like he was manic, or perhaps just downright confused about the whole situation, something that immediately caused Tama to start feeling embarrassed. "I'm so stupid....stupid... I can't believe I...."

Stopping, realizing that she was making a scene in public, she got even more embarrassed, quickly scuttling away to the nearest surface and forcing herself to her feet using it as support. Now on her feet, she makes an attempt at bowing before her hunger got the better of her again and forced her back down onto her knees.

Grooooaaaaaawwwwwrrrrlll

Her eyes widen and her face begins to flush with pink as her hands moved down to her stomach in a vain attempt to stifle the noises, ultimately failing and causing her to curl up against the wall with her head hidden by her knees.

"I'm...so... hungry..."

[Crazy]

AND THE POKING STRATEGY WORKED JUST AS PLANNED. Taking a step back as the woman woke up from her nap, Crazy was happy to see that she was definitely alive. Or maybe...MAYBE SHE WAS A ZOMBIE. Although she didn't look very zombieish. But perhaps that was merely a disguise. However this theory was completely disproven when she apologized. Crazy wasn't sure who she was apologizing to but it is a known fact that the only thing a zombie can say is 'braaaainnnnss' so she definitely wasn't a zombie.

"Don't worry Miss. Everyone gets tired every now and then. The key is plenty of caffeine or if that doesn't work then finding a nice park bench to sleep on." Crazy cheerfully said in order to give the girl AN INSPIRATIONAL BOOST. Leaning over and offering a hand to the girl Crazy said, "Would you like a ha...or you can get up yourself. That works too." As he watched the girl drag herself up. Undoubtedly she wasn't much of a morning person either. Although it was the afternoon so it would be more accurate to say that she wasn't much of an afternoon person.

Standing up back straight, Crazy was glad to see that his work was done. However that was when A NEW DEVELOPEMENT OCCURRED. Apparently the cause of the young lady's collapse wasn't that she merely wanted a nap but it was caused by hunger. Watching the girl curl up against the wall, Crazy wondered if she was going to go pass out again. Coming to a resolution CRAZY DECIDED TO HELP THIS RANDOM PERSON IN THE ETERNAL FIGHT AGAINST AN EMPTY STOMACH. "There are a few restraunts around here. In fact there is a pretty good cafe right across the street. You should eat there if your hungry." Crazy said to the starving person. UNDOUBTEDLY THIS RECOMMENDATION WOULD HELP HER IN HER BATTLE AGAINST AN EMPTY STOMACH.

[kiyomizusan]

"I-I.... I don't have any money."

The young woman said with a sigh, stammering her words a little as she curled up tighter in an attempt to make her face hidden. A cafe tends to be rather expensive, the prices for food marked up and the atmosphere made cozy so people would stick around inside the building and buy food while they relaxed within the atmosphere.

A person like Tama, whom is homeless and perpetually destitute can't afford to go to a cafe, let alone purchase luxury items with the meager amount of money she makes from odd jobs. Were it not for showers in the locker rooms and hotels with complimentary soap, it would be difficult for Tama to even maintain good hygiene.

At this point desperate and since this man had already shown that he was nice enough, the young woman takes a chance by raising her head just enough to see him, sighing loudly and then standing up all the way before regaining her customary stoic look and downright asking him for assistance.

"I-I'll do anything you need if you can um... treat me to some food?"

[Crazy]

"I can see how that would be a problem." Crazy observed as the girl told him about YET ANOTHER OBSTACLE IN THE BATTLE AGAINST ON EMPTY STOMACH. Although had he been in such a situation, Crazy would have merely eaten and then made a run for it instead of paying for the meal. Well either that or borrow someone's wallet for an indeterminate amount of time.

Noticing that the girl was trying to stand up, Crazy was about to offer her a hand (again) when she finished getting up without his help (again). After hearing the girl's offer, Crazy had to admit he was a little suprised by the request. "No Crazy. You remember what happened the last time you got some random high schooler involved in the mafia. Besides she doesn't even look like she can flay someone very well." Crazy thought to himself after he remembered what happened last time (It wasn't pretty. Although from someone's point of view of the the red splotches might look like a nice art piece).

"I'm afraid that there isn't anything that I need assistance with. Crazy said to the girl. However after a few seconds of DRAMATIC PAUSE THAT WAS FILLED WITH TENSION Crazy then said, "But I'll treat you to some food anyway." Afterall it looked like the girl needed the food a lot. Plus it might turn out to be fun. Surely this would be the FINAL BLOW TO WIN THIS BATTLE AGAINST AN EMPTY STOMACH. Although undoubtedly the it would return as it always does. BUT BY THEN PREPARATIONS COULD BE TAKEN TO DEFEAT THIS DANGEROUS FOE ONCE AGAIN.

[kiyomizusan]

"I'm grateful..."

It looked like this particular man was willing to treat her to food without her having to pay him a single bit of restitution, be it monetary or in favor. Such generosity was elating to the silver haired girl, whom patiently waited for the man to lead her to the location he was speaking of.

Eventually the pair reach the location, a fairly ordinary looking cafe that seemingly had a decent amount of customers roaming around it. "Can you order sir...? I, I um.. I'm not very picky, nor... decisive..." The amount of melancholy in her voice would be disheartening to hear for most people, however Tama quickly rebounds, pointing at a table and making a gesture to indicate that she'd wait there until the man were to return from ordering whatever he pleased.

Firmly situated in a seat the young woman sat there eying the condiments for a period of time, wholly unconcerned for the time being about anything other than the meal she may finally receive.

[Crazy]

"No problem." Crazy said to the girl as he headed towards the cafe. Checking to make sure that she was behind him and hadn't fallen down again, Crazy noted that she wasn't and continued on towards the cafe. AND SO OUR TWO HEROES WOULD ENTER THE BATTLEFIELD AND FACE OFF AGAINST THE DREADED ENEMY. As the BELLS OF BATTLE rung on the door that they opened, Crazy noticed that it was somewhat busy.

Looking for a place to sit, Crazy's train of thought was interupted when the girl told him to order for her and found a seat for the two of them. Giving a mental shrug, Crazy stood in line and looked at the menu. Deciding on what he would order for the two of them, Crazy noticed a stack of newspapers. Picking one up, Crazy skimmed through the headline (something about a suicide that occurred yesterday) and folded it up for later when he noticed that he was next. Ordering two large roast beef sandwiches with a side of miso soup along with a glass of water and milk, Crazy took the drinks and a sign and brought them to the table.

Setting the glass of water in front of the girl, Crazy put the glass of milk in front of himself and sat down. "I ordered both of us sandwiches so I hope thats okay with you." Crazy said as he put the newspaper on the table. After skimming through the sections, Crazy found the help wanted section and handed it to the girl. "And if your looking for a job to earn some money that might help you." Crazy said to the girl. And now it would only be a matter of time BEFORE THE DREADED EMPTY STOMACH WAS DEFEATED BY THE POWER OF THE SANDWICH. But for now Crazy would be content with taking a sip or two of milk while he waited.

[kiyomizusan]

"Th-thank you."

Her pale hand reached forward with a sense of hesitation towards the glass of water, as if the liquid were the belonging of someone else that she had no right to take. When her hand finally settles upon the glass, she pulls it over towards herself carefully, pressing it to her lips and taking in the cool liquid contents. Her companion, a man whose name she is still unaware of chimed in about the sandwiches he ordered, asking whether or not that was okay, to which she graciously nodded her head and took another gulp of the life-giving water.

Silently waiting a few moments for the food to arrive, her concentration is broken when the man places the newspaper he was reading on the table, pointing out the help wanted section and pushing the paper over towards her in a kind gesture to help her get a job. The girl flashes a weak smile at him before looking down at the paper, looking through the jobs listed until a waiter came by dropping off their sandwiches and side dishes.

"Ah, it's here."

Folding the newspaper up and setting it aside, she drags the miso soup over towards herself and places a spoon in the bowl before stopping, waiting for her companion to begin eating first before she'd take a bite. When he does so, she would immediately move to devour the soup, not wasting a single drop of the foods' contents before eying the sandwich in front of her.

The roast beef interior and the bread exterior were warm and inviting, the sandwich itself is fairly ordinary, but to a person who hadn't eaten in a fatally long time it appeared to be a buffet item. Sighing deeply with relief and a small amount of joy, Tama picks the sandwich up with a hardly noticeable smile on her face, preparing to savor it's contents before suddenly having an impulse in her mind.

"Hollows, there's a hollow nearby..."

Of all the times for hollows to begin attacking the area, they chose when Tama was about to finally get some food. Waving her hand in a zipper-like motion and watching the sandwich disappear into thin air, the silver-haired woman stands up out of her seat and takes a bow at her companion before informing him as to what's going on.

"Sorry, this town has an infestation of spirit monsters in it that tend to attack sometimes... I um... I kill them."

[Crazy]

"No problem." Crazy responded as he continued to sip his milk. Returning the smile, Crazy then let the girl read the newspaper. In order to kill the time Crazy repeatedly sipped at his milk until he found that he was out by the time that the food came.

Beginning to eat his soup, Crazy was oblivious to Tama's heisitation to eating the soup. Nor would he notice how thoroughly she had eaten her soup. For at that moment Crazy's only concern WAS THE DEFEAT OF HIS MORTAL ENEMY. Or well one of them at least. Quite a lot of people considered him their mortal enemy. Although in nearly every case this was only for a short period of time.

By the time Tama had managed to finish her soup, Crazy had already moved onto his sandwich and had taken a few bites. Not noticing the hollow's reiatsu, Crazy was instead enjoying the deliciousness of his MOIST ROAST BEEF SANDWICH. However Crazy did notice when he heard the girl mention hollows. "Huh?" Crazy said as he looked at her questioningly.

Gulping down the remaining food that he was chewing on, Crazy then raised an eyebrow when he saw her make the sandwich disappear. Obviously there was only one possible explanation for this. THIS GIRL WAS A WIZARD. OR A WITCH. OR A WITCHY TYPE OF WIZARD. EITHER WAY SHE KNEW SORCERY. Although then Crazy remembered that he also knew sorcery.

"Well that's an awfully direct way to explain something." Crazy said before taking another bite of the sandwich. After gulping down YET ANOTHER BITE OF THIS ROAST BEEF SANDWICH Crazy then asked, "And I take it that there is one nearby given how alarmed you are?" Well the answer was pretty obvious especially given that he could feel its reiatsu. But Crazy didn't really want to reveal that he also had powers even to a fellow power user. Although he had to admit that it was quite a coincidence to meet another person with powers like that. "Maybe I could find her a job or two." Crazy thought to himself. Although the morals or lack of them in this case might be a bit of a problem. But for now Crazy would do what any responsible person would do, CONTINUE TO EAT HIS SANDWICH. Well that and leave a decent tip.

[kiyomizusan]

"Thank you for the food sir, I promise I'll one day repay you." She said with another bow before racing out the door to confront the enemy that was fast encroaching. The rising in spiritual pressure made it very obvious to Tama that the beast knew where she was, and that it was beginning to zero in on her location out of a primal desire to eat.

She didn't get very far before encountering the looming shape of the hollow, a Gagamel variety with whip-like tentacles hanging from every part of it's body and a hungry look in the mask on it's face. Despite it being out in broad daylight, there weren't any people outside of Tama who seemed to be paying any heed to it, obviously because they were absolutely unable to see it anyways.

That's when pandemonium struck.

Obviously attempting to draw out more people, the beast begins to fire red Cero into buildings and stores, creating panic in only a few seconds of concentrated fire. Swearing slightly under her breath the young woman pulls out a pistol seemingly from nowhere that she trains upon the foe in front of her, firing it once and dealing a minor amount of damage to it's hide before it turned around to fire a cero at her in response.

But luckily Tama was prepared.

She wove her hand in front of her to create an ethereal looking gate that the cero travels through, disappearing alongside the gate before Tama wove her hand to create another, which the blast immediately rocketed out of, straight at the beast that conjured it in the first place.

[Crazy]

"I'm sure you will." Crazy said with a smile. Watching the girl leave, Crazy once again reflected on the odds of meeting another spiritually aware human not once but twice. It was quite an unlikely occurrence. Perhaps this was fate or something similiar.

However before Crazy could continue this train of thought about free will versus fate, Crazy was distracted by the deliciousness of this TASTY AND MOIST SANDWICH. Besides who needs to worry about a deep philosophical debate such as that when you can taste THREE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CHEESES on the sandwich. But soon Crazy found himself sandwichless for it had been finished off. Leaving a tip for the waiter, Crazy left the building and began to hum a cheerful tune.

Hearing a few explosions a few streets away, Crazy had a feeling that Karakura Town HAD JUST LOST ITS MURDER-FREE DAY STATUS. Wondering whether the girl would be alright against a cannibalistic spirit monster while she was still on the point of starvation, Crazy decided to help her. Taking advantage of the confusion caused by the explosions to slip undetected into an alleyway, Crazy then began to prepare FOR YET ANOTHER BATTLE. HOWEVER THIS ONE WOULD INVOLVE VIOLENCE INSTEAD OF SANDWICHES.

Taking out his cloth mask, Crazy put it on over his face and began to whistle a heroic tune. For now instead of being regular Crazy, Crazy was now SUPER CRAZY. A warrior for PERJURY, JUSTICE DECIDED BY THE HIGHEST BIDDER AND RANDOM VIOLENCE. Taking out a pistol next, Crazy checked to make sure that it was unloaded for the moment and that the safety was currently on. Once he was certain of this, Crazy then took out a silencer and after a minute or two of trying to put it on, Crazy remembered that it was righty tighty. Checking to make sure that the silencer was properly attached, Crazy then took out a bullet clip and loaded the pistol.

Climbing the fire escape of a nearby building, Crazy moved from roof to roof until he had a clear visual of the hollow. IT WAS TIME FOR SUPER CRAZY TO INTRODUCE THE HOLLOW TO MR. FLAT TIPPED ARMOR PIERCING TUNGSTEN BULLET. In Crazy's experience they tended to make nice holes in both people and hollow. Usually of the fatal variety, although with a hollow it was harder to tell. Especially considering that they are technically ghosts which would imply that they were dead before. REGARDLESS the flying pieces of metal tended to have an adverse effect on most things and that was good enough to Crazy.

Noticing Tama's position, Crazy made sure that his shot wouldn't have a risk of hitting her and then Crazy unloaded three shots into the hollow. Keeping his gun trained on the monster, Crazy observed to see how much damage the bullets did to it before he shot at it again.

[kiyomizusan]

As the Cero hurtled back towards it's owner, a series of three gunshots rang out across the city streets, giving the townsfolk even more alarm as the last remaining dredges of society left this forsaken battleground as quickly as possible in order to avoid the potential collateral damage involved in the battle.

The hollow itself seemed undisturbed by either it's own cero or the bullets that the two had fired into it. The cero itself harmlessly crashing against it's hide, while the bullets infact left sizable marks. But there were no signs of the creature slowing down as it frantically begun to search for whomever fired upon it.

Knowing an opportunity when she sees one, Tama quickly called away her pistol to replace it instead with a curious hoop-like weapon. "Will it work...?" She leaped backwards into the still open portal, appearing in the other one just as they both disappeared behind her and she soared through the air toward the tentacled creature's rear.

The creature had noticed her at this point, but by the time it whipped around to address her she slashed it with the weapon's blade as she fell, slicing off one of it's tentacles before she called another portal out and leaped backwards into it to avoid the retributive strike the creature attempted to counter with.

Out of sight, Tama fired several more pistolshots through the portal which struck true, striking the creature in the mask several times again, but still failing to do any real damage to the creature. She can only surmise that this particular creature was stronger than most of the lesser varieties, and that it's skin was only really prone to spiritually based attacks.

That's when she remembers another person had fired rounds into it, as the creature seems to have finally spotted that particular individual on his rooftop perch and begun sending waves of acidic material at him as it begun to climb atop the building with long tentacles.

[Crazy]

Watching the hollow get hit by a LASER BEAM OF DEATH, Crazy was disappointed to see that it did not in fact get blown up. Plus the bullets didn't maim the hollow or even seem to slow it down. However Crazy could see some marks on the hollow even at the distance which was somewhat encouraging. "I'm going to need a bigger gun." Crazy said to himself (in a grizzled action heroe type of way)."But when all you have is a pistol with flat tipped armor piercing tungsten rounds..." Crazy continued before unloading the rest of his clip into the monster.

AND HIS ATTACK WAS EXTREMELY SUCCESSFUL. Not only did it help drive away the potential witnesses innocent bystanders who Crazy most certainly WOULD push toward the hollows as a distraction (to be fair Crazy had a severe allergy to being eaten alive). But it also severed one of the monsters EVIL TENTACLES OF EVIL. Although on second thought it was more likely that it was the girl with the weird hoop weapon. Watching the girl escape by thinking with portals, Crazy quickly reloaded and emptied yet another clip into the monster while it was distracted by the other person. While it might be as ineffective as it looked, Crazy knew that the force of the bullets would still do some amount of damage to the monster.

While he was reloading a third clip, Crazy then noticed that he had managed to get the monsters attention. Quickly pulling back on the slide, Crazy realized that he didn't have enough time to shoot at the monster because of the presence of an acidic spray that the hollow was kind enough to send his way. So instead Crazy picked the more sensible option of jumping onto an adjacent building and not dying a brutal melty death OF PAIN. Firing off three more shots at the monster as it climbed the first building, Crazy kept an eye on it as he moved towards the end of the roof that was away from the monster (and the potential fate of being eaten alive by the cannibalistic spirit monster). "Hopefully the acid will cause that thing to fall through the roof." Crazy said as he fired another shot at the creature.