hiddenjudges[vintage-mix]02: turn around

The light patter of footsteps did little to add to the already hushed conversations. Heads turned as they naturally did, and many grins spread across the small masses. Voices shouted her name and whistles slid through half closed lips; Nanami was a sensation around this place it seemed. The ebony colored woman's skin turned a shade darker underneath the shade of the umbrellas, though it did nothing to hide the beauty that she held. Wearing a white halter top left her collarbone and toned arm muscles naked to the sunshine. To cover her lower half however the woman wore the usual booty like shorts and walked barefoot. She fit in just like one of the girls around here. Approaching, she took a seat next to the touristy dressed man. His hair was as white as the snow capped mountains of the Alps, and his attitude just as unforgiving. "Teruo-chan," she said coyfully, getting the bartenders attention with a raised finger and ordering the usual much to his amusement. Bits of sand still clung to the damp parts of her skin, though she didn't appear to mind as Mae turned towards him and propped a leg playfully over the other. Taking the fruity cock-tale the man sat in front of her, she began to sip through the straw. "What can I help the Father of Mountains with, hmm~?" Despite her tone and devilish grin that danced across her lips, she could note the man that leaned against the wall to be a fellow Shinigami. The former Captain was suspicious of the duo, though not afraid; they both knew even a mountain could be eroded by the simplest of rain.

“Itougaki, draw your bakkoto.” Teruo issued the command knowing full well that if he didn’t tell the young captain to withdraw it, there would be bloodshed in less than five minutes time. “Don’t be naive, Nanami. It doesn’t suit you. 

“Let’s say you don’t come back to the Seireitei. Then Itougaki kills everyone in this bar but me and you. He then goes on to kill literally every living thing he finds until he finally dies. With the Seireitei too unstable to stop him, the balance of souls completely collapses and we all die.” 

Teruo paused to tap his coconut. “The rim of this cup is the balance we shinigami stand on. And sometimes even the smallest touches can ruin it.” 

The coconut split in two, and Teruo turned his red eyes to the woman that was once his greatest ally. “The woman you are now doesn’t matter. The woman you were before now doesn’t matter. The Soul Society needs a woman who is capable of doing what needs to be done. And if she won’t, she might as well kill everyone herself. Don’t sign this death sentence for the world just because you’ve forgotten what you are, Nanami. We aren’t children anymore.” 

A smile laced her thin lips, soaked in the fluids of the drink she had been recently consuming; something remedied with the slightest flick of her tongue as it traced them slowly. The way Teruo had been so blunt with her reminded them of their time as friends. He would be unforgiving in his judgements and opinions. It was her after all who gave him the 'Impassable' title that stuck even after she left. Golden hues, calculative and seemingly unaffected by the actions of the former second division captain turned upon her former lover lazily. In truth the gaze she gave him could be defined as either lust, or predatorial; perhaps both if one could count their cards right. "Your way with words hasn't changed," she said, hinting at a smile behind her lips. Leaning forward she neared to his right, lips lingering only centimeters from his ear as her hot breathe hit his neck. "Call off your dog," she whispered, her hand digging digits into his thigh, "or find him put down." The blood that stained her cheek looked a kin to a tear upon the face of grace. Behind the assassin and directly over his shoulder something cracked: a bottle of cheap whiskey crashing to the floor in pieces. Where it remained, etched into the word work deeper than one would think possible was a remnant of her glass. Mae leaned back then, her right fist lazily holding her leaning head up.

"Where do we begin?"