Welcome to Gaia! ::

(Yo Mock, I got a Captain's spot in another guild... guess which squad? ^^)

(yesh!!! WOOT!! Hooray for Squad 13!!!)

Glancing down the counter, Hibiki's attention was caught on the slightly bizarre behaviour of a shinigami sitting near to Mock-taichou. Is he whittling his glass with his zanpaktou? Leaning a tiny bit forward on his stool, his drink in his hand forgotten for the moment, he saw the delicate designs appearing across the surface as he worked at it. So detailed! And the man wasn't even very aware of his surroundings, he must be immersed in his work, the humming as he carved adding to that feel. Hibiki however said nothing, just sat and watched from his few seats down.

Mock gave Hinata a warm yet complacent smile. If you want to do something, just because others do, then you're not being honest to yourself. Do things for your own motives and reasons, not for others'. Though drinking and smoking worked for me, for its own reasons, those reasons probably won't apply to you. He grinned. And you're still young!


Turning to Alder and curiously watching him "work" the glass, and then shifting his attention to Hinata as she followed Alder's footsteps and gave wings to her creativity as well, Mock commented, as if talking to himself You know... Kenta will have you pay for those... Mock remarked, about the glasses both Alder and Hinata were "ruining". Well, not actually ruining them. Since such works of art should in fact be praised. What the hell! The Captain let out, between puffs of smoke. Though the tobacco smoke seemed to bother some of the other Shinigamis in there, that was of no concern to Mock. He wasn't being rude, instead merely free. Balance could be achieved if he was able to smoke while the others aren't disturbed by it, and so he tried to keep the smoke away from them, by exhaling it towards the ceiling.

A trail of ash had left Mock's katana sheath (born from it), and fluttering across the room, made it's way to an empty table. The ash spread itself all over the wooden surface of the table, as if aimlessly falling victim to gravity's whim. But upon igniting into small bursts of fire, it became clearly apparent that the way it fell was all but random. The short bursts of fire, here and there, gave form to an intricate pattern. The ash did not set the wood on fire, instead smoldering it with extreme precision, literally burning a set of kanjis on the tabletop. The kanjis read Tenbatsu, Divine Punishment, same as in Mock's hat.

It seems I lack inspiration. he said.

(( Since the second round of the tournament hasn't finished, I'll talk about it as if it hasn't started at this point. ))

Hearing Mock's lazy comment and seeing Alder pay for his glass, Hinata hastily drew out her money pouch- delving in to find the correct sum to pay for her drink and ruined glass. The bartender immediately dropped his icy glare, scooping up the change with a sniff- obviously trying to not look to pleased with himself.

"Wow, it's an indoor art festival." The female shinigami nodded towards the table, impressed (it was still smoking from the kanji that MockaDash had burnt into it), before leaning back to talk to Alder.

"Funny no-one's mentioned that before," Hinata remarked as Alder raised the topic of the seating tournament. “The first round’s over, at least, but the second round...” Her voice trailed off and she grimaced, thinking of the people with exemplary skill and ability that she would have to face next. She had hoped just to get a modest rank, to silence Harikaze’s complaints that she did nothing all day- and that people with no ambitions did not get anywhere in life. What she had not bargained on was fighting for the top three available seats. Her pride was at stake, and to progress this far only to drop lower would cut into it severely, to say the least.

“Let’s just say the second round’s going to be a lot tougher. It would be just humiliating if I were eliminated, not to mention the fact that my zanpaktou would probably kill me first.” Hinata sighed, privately wondering how she could have been stuck with a zanpaktou spirit which seemed to have been purposefully designed to make her life miserable. She was glad she had not brought Harikaze with her, for by this point, said zanpaktou would be driving her owner crazy with snide comments and complaints.

“I should know- you almost wiped me out in that match,” the shinigami grinned, referring to the fact that she had spent three days in the fourth division following her and Alder’s battle, while recovering from a dislocation, several broken bones and exhaustion.

Hinata's eyebrows shot up in alarm as Alder's hand jumped to his forehead, and he hurled his zanpaktou away from him.

"What was that?" she cried out in alarm, jumping off her stool to avoid being hit with the flying zanpaktou. "Hello? Alder-kun?" she waved a hand tentatively across his blank face, but it was no use; he had already fallen unconscious.

"Oh no... Maybe I should take him to the fourth division?" the pigtailed shinigami bit her lip, pondering what monstrous zanpaktou could have caused this. "But I can't carry him like this- darn it, I haven't brought Harikaze either," she cursed as her hand reflexively flew to the hilt of the zanpaktou that was not there. The barman, Kenta, was regarding them with an odd look that was plainly wondering what on earth they were doing.

"Uh... Guess I have no choice," Hinata grimaced, remembering something that her sensei used excessively to shock her into regaining consciousness. Leaning over the bar, she snatched the jug of ice and tea-towel Kenta was carrying (earning a cry of protestation), poured the ice into the towel and shoved the freezing lump onto Alder's head.

(( xD Old-fashioned revival ))

(( Can someone else post- pleease? Like nooo! Such a random post! -dies- ))

'What a weird guy...' thought Hinata, as Alder stalked out of the bar with a disquieted look about him. However, her pondering was cut short by a messenger appearing suddenly in the doorway, announcing that he had come with a message for her. The pigtailed youth sprung off her stool in alarm as she recognised the seal and the neat calligraphy upon the envelope.

"No, don't tell me I've been summoned to another one of-" her sentence trailed off as she groaned, "-his training sessions." She sighed as she read on:

"Dear Lady Kazuki Hinata (Shrimp),

I have heard about your last battle- don't get so full of yourself because you won. You failed it- your skill was not enough to convince me you're getting any better!
You are cordially invited to a sparring session with your old Sensei in the Kazuki house training grounds. Don't bother replying, I'll come and get you in a week- whether you like it or not.

Yours sincerely,
Sin

P.S. Anyone up for a game of hide-and-seek?

"What... He hasn't changed at all."

It was true. There was still the mixture of sheer cheek and mock politeness in his ways, still the teasing way he addressed her. Hinata could almost picture the mischevious twinkle in her Sensei's eyes as he automatically proclaimed her the seeker- and shot off with his lightening shunpo to hide before she had even opened her mouth to protest. But that also meant that his gruelling methods (which he called "teaching", but which Hinata often referred to as "torture") had not left him either. It didn't help one bit that when he boasted of being more skilled than her, it was always true, and there was nothing she could say that would prove otherwise.

Turning back to her squad mates in the bar, she tucked the letter gloomily into her money bag, before carefully extracting some coins to pay for a cup of tea.