[IC] Peace Keepers

[SupahCow090]

“I have everyone’s uniform here, and your issued equipment is in my backpack. I saw your gourd shatter on screen back in the intelligence office. And… Cerulean! I need to give you this!” the pink-haired banshee said while giving the siren a "hug". When the banshee gave the uniform, Cerulean looked it with amazement as it was different from what he usually wears, in a good way. Cerulean quickly changed his uniform once handed out the uniform.

Once inside the Humvee, tons of thoughts was running inside Cerulean's head. He was worried if he would mess the mission up and bring the team don. He was worried that he may be kicked out if he wasn't good enough. He was worried to lose his new friends. Upon landing on the building's helipad, Mia quickly noted "Alright, Bushi and I shall be taking the point. Angel, I want you in the back, keep an eye out for any ambushes from behind us and take them out when you can. Cerulean and Robin, you guys stay between us three. You two are better suited for supporting the rest of us and only getting into physical combat if we need you guys. I also want you two watching out for survivors. If we find any, we'll have Angel fly them down to safety. Lets move." Cerulean was perfectly game for the plan as he does not posses that much physical strength compared against the other members, only surpassing Robin to be honest.

Smoke. That means fire. Cerulean, as a siren, doesn't really do well with fire mainly because this setting contradicts his element. The 30th floor had loads of flames. Cerulean was getting concerned and scared at the same time as his element would be weak here. With Mia and Bushi at front though, he shouldn't be afraid of anything. Not to mention Angel at his back and Robin's unique abilities. Mia, who was clearing out the flames, was suddenly attacked by an unknown creature. "What the heck? What was that?" Mia, then, effortlessly slayed the creature. "Undead..." Cerulean mumbled to himself.

"Time for round one, new kid!"

Cerulean readied himself, bringing out the water bottle from his bag and pouring it and molding it into a sphere of water and tightened his grip on his trident. Once an undead ambushed him, he made a sword-like shape from the water and impaled it to the undead. Bushi and Mia were fending of most of the undead which made Cerulean impressed. "I should do better..." He then used his trident to pierce it through the rotten creature. When he pulled it back, black liquid coated his weapon. He was in disgust and was amazed on how the others were holding their own without... puking. He decided to unleash sharp projectiles made out of water that stabbed several undeads that were coming near him and his team mates. Robin was using her abilities but then she didn't notice an undead was about to devour her. Cerulean hastily send forth a whip like mold and pinned down the undead with pins made from water. "This is disgusting... but I won't back down!" Blood. He impaled the once beautiful trident of his to the decomposing creature's head.

While backing off enemies little by little, a glow from the back flashed. "Get do-" Mia screamed but it was too late. The team of 5 was flying out the window and falling to the ground quickly. Cerulean can't fly, nor can he float or levitate. "Crap!" Cerulean gasped. Will this be the end? That sentence repeated constantly in Cerulean's mind. He shut his eyes, hoping for a miracle. Suddenly, he felt a strangle in his neck. A weird feeling approached him. His heart seemingly stopped. It was Mia. She saved Cerulean. The almost-werewolf Mia was biting Cerulean by the collar. It was painful, but he had to cope with it as he might die. He felt relieved and happy yet scared and nervous all at the same time. A fast object, debris, something moved swiftly towards the ground. Crap. It was Robin. Could she handle herself?

Once down, news reached the team. Robin was in critical condition. This isn't good. He felt like he could've done something but couldn't. It was devastating to hear that the team of five may temporarily, or even worse, permanently, become four. Mia faced the group and calmly commanded, "Everyone who's alright, get ready. We're heading back to the base to give our report." Cerulean, wearing a gloomy face, entered the vehicle. He remembered that when he got here, they were consisted of five members. Cerulean closed his eyes shut and prayed for Robin's safety and health.

[Rexcalibur]

It was not long before the group had taken down the remaining stragglers, but before Mia could finish delivering her order, a tatted corpse nearby ignited. The following burst sent the team flying out the window. While Mia was quick to slow her fall through transformation, subsequently rescuing Cerulean as well, Angel was caught off guard by the blow.

His descent consisted of a fit of twisting and turning, trying to unravel himself from his cluttered feathers. Only midway after his fall did he finally unball himself and unravel his wings. He caught the wind beneath his feathers and halted his drop - though Mia, with Cerulean in tow, was descending much more slowly than she would have if she had not acted on impulse. Bushi managed to handle himself - though one particular body that fell passed him had...

"Robin!"

Angel cried out and dove down for her, sending out his retractable hook like a fishing line for her to grab onto as he descended; he did not latch it directly onto her, as a wrong step could ensnare and possibly rip her flesh falling from this rate. But... she had missed. Robin missed the grab and collided onto the floor beneath. Thankfully she had saved herself in time to prevent a splattering death, but still knocked herself unconscious.

The harpy's dive was not quick enough. He landed mere moments after Robin's fall, before allowing himself to slump to his knees. His wings withered around his body, cloaking him like a ruffled shawl. Not even his famed angel dust could do anything for someone in such a critical condition.

Angel stared at her body with empty eyes, as if traumatized by his companion's near death. He had failed his teammate.

With only himself to blame, the harpy could no longer look at Robin now that the EMTs were handling her, and solemnly made his way back to the Humvee. Without word he leapt up and perched himself atop the vehicle.

[LimeyPanda]

The violence suited him. The brutality of each slice and the way in which his blades sunk into flesh or cut bloody swathes through undead was a delight he could not hide. It was painted on his face with a confident, wide grin. His enjoyment of the reverie of violence was always a point of self-loathing, and yet Bushi partook of it all the more. It was everything he’d ever known and everything he’d ever be. His entire existence was that of a life-taker. Before he was given thought, he took lives; after his ascension from thoughtless Kami to walking god, he continued to take life. Everything he knew was some form of violence.

The undead proved challenge-less as Mia placed him in charge of combat. He knew that, had circumstances been different, he would have been able to purge this building on his own. With a group of capable beings, the task was almost insultingly easy.

“Get do…”

Then everything exploded.

It wouldn’t be accurate to say that everything exploded. Only one thing exploded, but it exploded in such a way that everything changed: either being obliterated in a ball of fire or, in the case of the five Peacekeepers, hurtled out of the building’s thirtieth story window.Bushi was catapulted away from the rest of the group’s freefall: he had been in the thick of the violence and ahead of everyone else. Leading to him getting a big brunt of the explosion.

That led to him flying further away from Robin and Angel and Cerulean and Mia and, perhaps most importantly, the building.

Bushi was a powerful person, but his skillset was limited. He couldn’t fly, and he couldn’t right himself mid air. He saw that he wasn’t going to get close enough to a building that he might be able to rappel down. He reached for something at his belt, as if it might save him and then he just...plummeted to the ground, seemingly out of everyone else’s sight and mind. It would be accurate to say he was the first to hit the ground, if it wasn’t for exactly where he landed.

Bushi’s freefall ended with him crashing into the roof of a parked car. The twisted metal crumpled under the weight of the body, seemingly wrapping itself around Bushi, like a hand had reached up and crumpled the metal and flesh into a fistful of paper.

Most people who fell thirty stories down and landed on top of a car were picked up in multiple body-bags. Some of them were suicidal, some of them were homicidal.

Bushi wasn’t most people.

If someone wandered over to the destroyed car, they would see a body: seemingly broken, but slowly shifting in mass as it repaired itself. For thirty seconds, Bushi remained still before his eyes shot open and he took a deep lungful of air.

“SonofaButtery Crumpet. If I find out which stupid motherFried Fish and Ducker set up an exploding Fried Fish and Ducking undead American sodahole…” The translator in Bushi’s ear transmited the tirade of angry Japanese into a very strange mix of food and anger. He looked down to the thing he’d cradled before hitting the car: It was his replacement gourd. He pulled off the cork and took a swig of liquor before getting out of the twisted metal carnage.

“Ow…”

He was across the street from the rest of the group, and in that time, they had gathered around something of interest. They had their backs to him and he saw the injured body of Robin on the floor. His face twisted into one of melancholy. “Someone is going to pay for this.”

The ambulance arrived quickly and Bushi turned away from the broken form of Robin. He wore his fury on his sleeve, walking over to the group and eventually hearing the order to take to the humvee. He obliged, taking periodic swigs from the Sake gourd and not offering any to share.

...Someone was going to pay.

[Ryver et Rhine]

“Welcome back guys!” Air exclaimed chirpily before giving each member of Team Moon a hug.

Naturally she knew what happened to the missing member, but someone has got to remain cheerful. Anger and sorrow will do Robin little good. The fox was a fighter. She bet the kitsune wouldn’t like to be pitied at all. Not openly at least.

“Seriously guys! Wait up…”

The banshee ran after the group with the huge basket containing four parcels. “I worked so hard to get these done in time. I can’t believe I actually finished it before you are back.”

Quickly she caught up with each person and gave them a parcel. The communications officer grinned as she saw their perplexed faces. She tried her best not to giggle, but she still burst out laughing anyway. That look on Cerulean’s face was too cute. She can’t tell if he liked his set of pajamas with cute sea animals prints or not. Bushi’s was a set of jinbei with a wine gourd applique sewn onto the right hand pocket. Angel and Mia haven’t opened theirs yet. Air quickly whipped out her sleeping tee. The long shirt had pink sleeves and a pink collar. A huge peace keeper emblem was printed in the center of the shirt.

“I figured if we were going to have a pajama party I should get you each a set because not everyone would have one. Though I doubt Pye can be persuaded to come,” she added with a pout. “But you guys will definitely be coming right? It will be sad to see all that alcohol, chocolates and cocoa go to waste. I have a couple of bottles of sake, baileys, vodka…”

The woman looked Mia in the eyes. "I mean what's the point of being a team if no one comes for Cerulean's welcoming party."

[PhantomSekai]

As the group returned to the HQ, they were greeted by their cheery comms officer, but Mia wasn't in the particular mood to deal with what she had to offer. Still she had the package forced into her hands and her anger was starting to boil over at this point. As soon as she heard the phrase "pajama party" she let out a sigh and clenched her hands as her nails extended instantaneously into claws, the shredding of the package very audible to everyone in the corridor.

She dropped the shredded remains and looked to the group, a look of relief on her face. She started laughing as the comms officer seemed slightly upset and as her nails returned to normal she ruffled the banshee's hair saying "Sorry Air, but I don't do pajamas. However, I think you are right about the party. Thanks for the package though, I needed something to work my anger out on."

Her words and phrasing might've come out slightly more twisted and mean then she intended, but she hooked her arm around the girl's shoulders and said "Come on guys, before we go drinking lets go to a restaurant first. I know a korean bbq place a few blocks down that has some great food and drinks. We can get a good dinner there, then come back for the sweets and drinks that Air put together."

Once she had everyone's approval, she smiled and said "Whatever the hell is going on, we'll leave the bullshit that comes with it for the future. Tonight, lets just have a good party for Cerulean and be happy. I'm sure Robin wouldn't want us sulking. Lets go, my treat. Everyone put on your casual wear and I'll meet you right outside the building."

Mia went off first, heading to her personal quarters as she pulled out some very normal, bystander like clothing. Some slightly tore jeans, a simple black t-shirt, and then a hoodie ontop of that. She looked almost like a normal person now. She went out to the front of the building and waited for her team to arrive.

[Rexcalibur]

Angel knew he could count on Air to remain optimistic, even with the hospitalization of a close comrade. After a deep sigh, he smiled back after receiving his parcel. "Thanks, cutie." It wasn't like him to mope unless there was death involved, though seeing Robin's drop as directly as he had, and subsequently failing to catch her on time, left an impact. Still, the banshee had the right idea in mind. Plus it probably wouldn't roll over with the kitsune well either if she knew she was being pitied like this.

"Goddamn it, Air," Angel snickered upon ripping open his package with his talons. His very own sleeping pair was a matching long-sleeved shirt and trousers, with a design reflecting a fake suit stop and bottom, complete with a black tie and all. There were two large holes carved into the back to fit his wings. The harpy smiled even wider when she mentioned all the lovely things waiting for the team at Cerulean's welcoming party. "Hah! Count me in."

He let out a low whistle as Mia completely demolished her own present, leaving the pink-haired banshee in near disappointment. Then she hooked arms with her - so Angel followed suit and hooked her arm around her other arm. Instead of diving straight into angry detective mode as Angel's seen his own clan do in the past with circumstances like this, Mia then proposed going out to dinner instead. A proposal well-received from the remaining three of her team.

When Angel returned to meet Mia by their designation, he let out another whistle to catch her attention, holding one hand in the air so as to make himself visible. As per usual he wore his white suit top and black suit bottoms, though his chestnut hair remained as unkempt as ever. Unless their situation ever called for anything extremely casual, suits were his preferred getup; he always found something about their professionalism attractive, and plus it made it more difficult for human cops to pin him down as a guy with 'drugs' in his pocket, even if they were out of the ordinary.

"I'm here, I'm here. Where's everyone else?"

[LimeyPanda]

Bushi had been quiet in the drive home, as he contemplated just which simulation room he'd break this time. Although he was a picture of temperate serenity on the outside, inside he was furious at his inability to do anything that might have saved Robin. He kept trying to think of hypotheticals: things that he could have done just a little different, had he been given time or knowledge or maybe a real...

He exhaled, purging the self-doubt and deciding that the best way to forget about all these 'coulda-shoulda' games was with the application of more alcohol. He briefly looked at Angel, the closest thing he had to a drinking buddy.I hope his liver doesn't give out...

When they got to the base, and with Bushi have regained some of his more agreeable mood, the now-quartet were met with the ever delightful Banshee...Pink-hair...whatshername. She had a basket in her hand, and was quick to hand out goodies to each of the group. Bushi opened his and was left with a broad smile on his face. The Jinbei was expertly made, and it looked as if it would fit him perfectly. He looped an arm around the Banshee, embracing her in a one armed hug. "My thanks..." He heard Angel mention her name, as he opened his own present. "...Air."

Now he just had to remember it...Hopefully.

Watching Mai shred the gift was, in Bushi's mind, an outrage. He looked at Air's face, dropped in disappointment and the urge to lash out at Mia was high. His hand moved to one of the metal poles, still attached to his back, as he contemplated lopping off a finger. She could grow them back, after all.

His rage was quelled somewhat by Mia wrapping an arm around the slighted communication officer, in a moment of...what? Was she asking the communication’s officer to excuse her? It seemed like Air obliged, as her face perked up a little. Bushi, however, was left with a sour taste in his mouth. He stayed a few steps back from the group, although his fingers were no longer on one of the would-be-weapons.

At least Mia said one thing that Bushi found agreeable. She offered the idea of a BBQ meal, and since everyone else was willing to overlook the transgression, the Kami would also. It didn't pay to dwell on anger, especially when even the slighted had moved on. Mia called for everyone to get changed and meet outside the front of the building.

Bushi moved to his own quarters and relished the moment of solitude. It seemed that even now, he had an awful lot to learn about mortal creatures. Whereas some were so very impulsive, others were able to 'bury the hatchet' so very quickly. Did he truly just overreact to Mia's outburst? Perhaps the others were just forgiving the frustrated outbursts of an unhappy leader, and Bushi was the one acting unjustly.

...Mortals were confusing.

Still, he had to go and attend a gathering of mortals: so standing around and doing nothing made little sense. Mia had foolishly said the words 'my treat' and if Bushi could not avenge the ripped up clothing, he could certainly take some revenge on Mia's bank account. Bushi had always liked pork.

It took Bushi ten minutes to finish getting changed. In that time, he'd discarded his normal yukata and donned the Jinbei that Air had made. It fit him well, despite how she must have only guessed his measurements. The accuracy was a little shocking, to be frank. It was comfortable enough, though: and wearing the casual wear might encourage a little annoyance from Mia; one could consider it a little rebellion against the Werewolf.

Bushi overheard Angel speaking to Mia as he arrived, and Bushi responded with a smirk on his face. "You don't think I'd miss an opportunity for free food and drink, do you?"

[SupahCow090]

When the team arrived, they were welcomed by a still optimistic Air despite the situation. Cerulean returned a small smile to Air, even when everything was seemingly down. Air gave each one a hug as she knew what happened to the missing member. “I worked so hard to get these done in time. I can’t believe I actually finished it before you are back.” She then handed out parcels to everyone. Cerulean was confused. Was it mail? He is new and doesn't know how things worked here. He opened the parcel and was surprised to see what was in it. "Pajamas? I haven't worn one in years to tell you the truth. Thanks Air." Cerulean wasn't really that psyched but he had to show gratitude to the banshee. He immediately wore it even though he looked stupid, just to show thanks to Air.

Air laughed when she saw Cerulean. All Cerulean could do was blush and look away in embarrassment. “I figured if we were going to have a pajama party I should get you each a set because not everyone would have one. Though I doubt Pye can be persuaded to come,” she added with a pout. “But you guys will definitely be coming right? It will be sad to see all that alcohol, chocolates and cocoa go to waste. I have a couple of bottles of sake, baileys, vodka…” Air added. "I don't know... Mia and Bushi... they aren't the kind of people who would go to a Pajama party..." Cerulean mumbled to himself though secretly, he'd love to have a pajama party with his team mates.

Then a series of slashes was heard. "Sorry Air, but I don't do pajamas. However, I think you are right about the party. Thanks for the package though, I needed something to work my anger out on." Mia still hasn't moved on to what fate decided to do to Robin. "Come on guys, before we go drinking lets go to a restaurant first. I know a korean bbq place a few blocks down that has some great food and drinks. We can get a good dinner there, then come back for the sweets and drinks that Air put together." Cerulean replied with a simple nod.

He then went to his room and changed the pajama set he wore for Air and some of the uniform he didn't take off. A black hoodie and black pants with matching black sneakers was what he wore. Black shows his seemingly pale skin tone even more. He wore his usual hair style of course. He rested for a moment as he tried to regain his thoughts. A lot were running through his mind that time. "I'll leave my troubles here for a while and just have fun I guess..." He got up and fixed his hoodie and off he went.

"Crap. I'm late." He didn't know the building well enough and had to check the floor plan a couple of times just to arrive at the entrance. He saw the three standing there, talking. He walked, rather jogged to the team. "Sorry if I'm late..." He said while panting. "Got lost on the way. Are we ready to go?" Asked the Siren.

[Ryver et Rhine]

Air clapped her hands happily as the harpy unwrapped his parcel. He was finally smiling again. Being down didn’t suit Angel at all. Her eyes were riveted on her feathered friend, so Bushi’s reaction threw her off completely. She gasped slightly as the kami pulled her into a one armed embrace. A faint blush crept over her face as she breathed in his scent. Bushi was smiling. Her brain did a double take. Did he just call her by her name as well? This was going way better than she expected!

“I am so glad you liked it guys!” The communications officer exclaimed as she pulled both males into a firm embrace.

A loud ripping sound caused her too jerk her head round. The surprised woman stared at the remains of Mia’s gift. She wasn’t sure how to react. She was happy the werewolf had calmed down, but she was also upset that Mia didn’t like the present. She had secretly hoped the blonde would like it. No matter how far-fetched it was.

“Korean BBQ sounds fantastic, Mia!” Air exclaimed cheerfully. “I haven’t been out for ages!”

Free food would never be as good as hugs or music, but it was better than nothing. Cerulean was the star tonight, and there was no way the newbie shall not be disappointed. The pink haired officer allowed herself to be marched away with Angel in toll. She chatted away about possible outfits she could wear.

Colorful dress, black tights, scarf, beanie, bracelets, necklaces and still something wasn’t quite right. Was it her make up? Air frowned slightly after twirling around in front of the mirror. She threw off the hat and braided her hair instead. That was better! Her Japanese styled look was a success! The banshee grabbed her handbag and clicked her way towards the entrance. She was completely oblivious to the admiring glances thrown her way.

“You guys are fast!”

Her green eyes lit up when she noticed what Bushi was wearing. She squealed and hugged him. The Kami looked so cute! She only let go after Cerulean arrived. After calming the poor flustered rookie the banshee bounding over to the car. They were wasting time! The restaurant will be packed soon. Happy hour starts in 20 minutes!

---X-x-X---

[Hahm Ji Bach, Northern Boulevard]

“Samgyupsal (bacon served with bean powder)… Wait there is chicken too! Argh there are far too many choices!”

Air put down the menu for a while. Meat would sit at least 3 of them. Chicken, beef and pork. Especially pork. What about seafood? She had no idea if the prince would be offended. It would be barbaric to eat one of Cerulean’s subjects in front of him. Wait… did he rule over the fish too? The officer nudged Mia gently with her foot. She looked the only other female at the table straight in the eye.

“Do you think Cerulean will be offended if we ordered saba (grilled mackerel) or the seafood soup?” She asked the other telepathically.

Out loud the psychic banshee said, “Oh! I didn’t notice this earlier! If one of us can eat more than 60 plates of either beef or pork within 180 minutes the rest of us will get to eat for free! Do we have any volunteers? There will be a free flow of drinks and soju during the competition.”

Air laughed. “I volunteer Angel, Mia or Bushi! Unless you want to try Cerulean!”

[Rexcalibur]

Unlike Air, Angel cared not about whether eating seafood in Cerulean's presence would offend him. After all, even the harpy consumed chicken - sure, he wasn't a rooster harpy or anything that warranted a true feel for cannibalism, but surely he assumed that eating his favorite fishy staple wouldn't throw off the siren.

Even though Angel wasn't the recipient of Air's telepathy, he dropped his menu and flicked his fork. "The tilapia sounds good. I think I've found my choice!" He looked to the others, including Cerulean, to see if anyone else decided on a meal yet. "Hell, maybe we can all share our choices. That's how we eat back at home."

He leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head as his eyes drifted to the ceiling. Air made some comment about... eating 60 plates of meat!? Angel was close to picking up his glass of water just to sputter it back out! "Okay, I'm as much of a meat-lover as the rest of you guys, but I prefer not to get stomach poisoning tonight. Thanks." He did however, look to Bushi with an eyebrow raised and a sleek smile crossing his lips. He lifted his glass like it was champagne. "I'm sure Bush would like to show us all up though, right, my good man?"

[PhantomSekai]

Mia was silent as the rest of the group talked amongst themselves. She was somewhat of a regular at this restaurant, so when she walked in, the servers already showed them to a table and got several dishes of different styles of dumplings including pork and kimchi dumplings as well as Mandu. The group talked about their orders amongst themselves and Mia was stuffing her face full of food with little regard to how the rest of the group saw her in this very unusual light.

She finished 4 plates of dumplings before giving a small sigh of relief as she gulped down the bottle of Soju the server had brought her as well. She smiled and said to the group "Order whatever you like guys, cause I was able to swipe this away when the higher ups were keeping their heads turned a bit." She grinned and pulled out a card from her pocket. It was a credit card that had some unusual lettering on it and said 'Company card. They don't really like me using this. Not cause they don't want us using it, but cause I tend to eat a lot. But after today, they'll be hard pressed to not let us have a little relaxation. Everyone eat up."

When Air mentioned the free thing Mia shrugged and said "I say me and bushi could probably take a shot at it. Although, I think he's more of a sure bet than me. Damn immortal can probably eat arsenic and be fine, so a little food shouldn't hurt him."

[PhantomSekai]

Mia was silent as the rest of the group talked amongst themselves. She was somewhat of a regular at this restaurant, so when she walked in, the servers already showed them to a table and got several dishes of different styles of dumplings including pork and kimchi dumplings as well as Mandu. The group talked about their orders amongst themselves and Mia was stuffing her face full of food with little regard to how the rest of the group saw her in this very unusual light.

She finished 4 plates of dumplings before giving a small sigh of relief as she gulped down the bottle of Soju the server had brought her as well. She smiled and said to the group "Order whatever you like guys, cause I was able to swipe this away when the higher ups were keeping their heads turned a bit." She grinned and pulled out a card from her pocket. It was a credit card that had some unusual lettering on it and said 'Company card. They don't really like me using this. Not cause they don't want us using it, but cause I tend to eat a lot. But after today, they'll be hard pressed to not let us have a little relaxation. Everyone eat up."

When Air mentioned the free thing Mia shrugged and said "I say me and bushi could probably take a shot at it. Although, I think he's more of a sure bet than me. Damn immortal can probably eat arsenic and be fine, so a little food shouldn't hurt him."

[LimeyPanda]

Upon arriving at the Korean BBQ, Bushi found that he was very confused by the entire culture and all the names. He had no real knowledge of Korean culture, in fact: his home country of Japan was renowned for its dislike of the Koreans, due to a long-since-finished feud between the two countries. As far as the Kami was concerned, he held no real animosity to the restaurant or its proprietors due to long since uncared for hereditary dislike. The only issue was that he had tossed the communicator he was meant to keep on his person during missions onto his sleeping mat, and now he was hearing many a word he did not quite understand.

Thankfully, the Banshee was providing her own running commentary about the food and drink: much to Bushi’s delight. She had perked up since the distasteful incident involving Mia and the gift, which meant that Bushi wouldn’t have to beat Mia down at some point. That was a positive, at least.

Before he got close to making an educated guess at what he wanted: Bushi was volunteered three times for a competition of some sort: an eating competition, no less. The thought made him openly chuckle as he put the menu down. “We all know you are a meat lover, Angel. Yet it hardly seems fair to rob these people of all that money.” He laughed at his own crude joke. He needed the laughter right now, to distract his mind from the day’s events. “…However, it seems that I can save our proprietors a great deal of money.”

He pondered the act of accepting this deal. The challenge would be no problem: he didn’t need to eat food, and that which he did eat seemed to…well…vanish. His immortal body never required visits to the toilet, and whatever he consumed seemed to stop existing moments after he ate or drank it. Sure, he absorbed any effects of the food: spice or poison or, most commonly, drunken-ness could all affect him, yet getting full? He’d never even thought about what the experience might be like.

“I tell you what. I’ll accept the challenge if you do, Mia. We’ll make it a competition as well: If you take the challenge and don’t finish it, you owe me a duel. I haven’t been able to flex my talents in far too long.” He clicked his knuckles with a very loud, audible pop. The grin on his face was obstinate and bold, as close to a rebellious smirk as the one eyed Kami could produce.

“Deal?”

[PhantomSekai]

Mia listened to the group go on and felt calm, closing her eyes as a relaxing smiled dawned on her face. This is exactly what the group needed to move past what had happened early that day. So many bad things had happened, that Mia was on the verge of completely breaking down and destroying something, but luckily she had teammates that were fun and easy going enough when they needed to be, and that stopped her from getting to angry with herself. Still, the back of her mind held thoughts of what was to come in the next few weeks, and she wasn't excited.

Before her train of thought could move to darker places, the Kami purposed an idea of a competition to her and said "Sorry Bushi, but after that drinking competition I don't really feel like entering any eating/drinking challenges with you anymore. I don't need to die of over-eating or something like that just cause you wanted to make it a challenge. Here, how about this instead? If you complete this challenge on your own then I'll duel you whenever you want."

She grinned and continued on with "If you don't, then you need to wear the regular uniform. However, for every ten meals you eat after the first 60 or how ever many it was, I'll do another thing that you want for you no questions asked, as long as it's not ridiculous. Like handling writing your report on our next mission or buying your alcohol for you one day, or whatever you want, deal?"

[Rexcalibur]

Angel snickered from the side as he listened to the propositions both Bushi and Mia made towards one another. "Mia, you do know you're walking right into a pool of free favors for Bushi, don't you? He can probably out-eat everyone in this entire restaurant combined if he felt like it." He slapped the kami's back, a smug smile still plastered across his face. "They don't call you a god for nothing, right?"

He laughed again. Just like the other two concluded internally, Angel too apprecated the lightheartedness of this dinner showdown. Air was right - moping over Robin's injury would probably hurt her pride more than she would appreciate it. Witnessing his own victims comatosed or killed were really the only things that ever threw off Angel's emotions, and Mia too it seemed was still frustrated with the earlier events that day. At the very least, seeing everyone else calm down and at least attempt to enjoy themselves with their newest teammate was enough to set him straight too.

It wasn't too long before the orders were made; Angel ordered his fish from the appetizer section and had it promptly arrive. There were five pieces total, and Angel - "Don't mind if I do." - was quick to seize one. Considering he only had four "fingers" per hand, he always found using utensils both awkward and unnecessary, so he casually removed his gloves and used his claws as both a knife and fork.

"This is some pretty good shit, innit? Bush? Mia? No appetizer? I'll take your pieces if you don't want them. Mm! Hey Air, baby, try some of this. Pretty damn good."

[LimeyPanda]

Mia was quick to dismiss the idea of a competition, and Bushi almost resigned himself to non-participation as well. It would be far too boring to just feast for no real reason. Gluttony was not a vice he held, and nor did he see any particular pleasure in it.

But then Mia raised the offer of the duel, as well as sweetening the deal even further by giving him an option for 'bonus' tasks. He would get what he wanted if he competed, and more. The idea was pleasant, to say the least and would probably be the easiest thing to do tonight. Everyone else seemed to have let go of their animosity towards Robin's status, but Bushi still felt it as a heavily personal failing. Had he been a touch faster, an inch stronger, a step closer to her...

Perhaps it was his own pride, or simply his own longevity, but Bushi was much slower to forgive than most mortals: be that forgiving foes or forgiving himself. Someone had been injured other than himself, that was a failing. He had not predicted the explosive assault, that was a failing. He could pinpoint every single little thing that he'd done wrong and the consequences were made louder than a crash by the silent space in the circle that Robin used to fill.

"I guess I better accept the challenge then...I think I'll need some Alcohol....Soho or whatever you called it." He wore a smile on his face, masking the overthinker and trying to paint the normal picture of intense, life loving Bushi.