The Afterlife Delinquent [Rabirria/Gokuro]

[freshstrawberries]

Stealing was pretty easy when you were both invisible and could move at speeds that the human eye couldn't really track even if they could see you.  Honestly she wondered how anyone even tried to do it when they didn't have her perks, but that was for someone other than Rabirria to ponder.  The Arrancar's heavy, gold trimmed jaws opened wide, revealing a maw that didn't even seem like it should fit on a head like hers as she slipped the last of the hamburger in, before her jaws snapped shut.

Hollow Masks were so damn weird.  Sure they were 'masks' yeah, but she'd never seen a hollow with a normal mouth behind their mask, so it was just their face, but if you did break it, a 'human' face would be revealed beneath it.  Yet as an arrancar if you had a big honking set of jaws covering your face you were kind of just out of luck.  Rabirria swallowed as she let out a sigh, "I wonder what it's like having actual lips."

Just a short time ago she'd gone through a fast food joint, taking the food right off of a tray and out before anyone could realize.  Maybe someone might have seen the floating food on the corner of a rooftop several blocks away but what would they even think if they had?  Probably just assume they were seeing things.

Rabirria was squatting right on the very edge, nagamaki on her back as she looked over the bustling streets, but now she stood up, stretching slowly.  "Ahhh that was nice, but real thirst provoking."  There was only one way to solve that, the woman vanishing from the rooftop only to reappear entire neighborhoods away in front of a pair of vending machines, one with snacks, one with drinks.

It was early evening but on a quiet street like this, near a high school but a good bit after class and surrounded by residences, there weren't too many people out and about on this street at this hour, which made it perfect.  Whenever Rabirria did this in places with more people for some reason it increased the chances that some bow and arrow loser or sword swinging nutjob would show up to bother her. 

"But there's no one here, no one to save or protect you.  You're helpless."  She said to the vending machine, giving a faux sneer as she started to swing her right arm around like a windmill or as if she were winding it up, left hand on the shoulder.  A common thing in cartoons maybe but who actually wound up a fist like that in real life?  "Now behold, your doom!"  She'd bring the fist up, coming upwards like an uppercut, and at the same time she'd Sonido...about two feet forward.

That was where all the actual force came from, her hardened fist hitting the glass case and smashing directly through!  "Such a shame, you might have lived a little longer if you hadn't met me."  Her hand would then reach about head turning to grab a soda.

It was...a bit of a bizarre thing to see really, even if someone could see her.  Who just punched through the glass case of a vending machine?

[Gaz]

Goku #1

---

Sometimes it was nice to just get away from everyone, just being alone with your own thoughts. It was something that most people enjoyed but rarely saw the opportunity to do so. The park at this time of day was perfect for that as hardly anyone wandered through it. That allowed Goku to have his space to breath and just be alone.

The young man was slowly strolling down the paths from hither to dither, letting his mind wander, he had only been a Substitute Shinigami for a few days and so much had happened already. He had cleansed hollows in a life-or-death fights, one of those being against the twisted and warped soul of a friend that had lingered around him and no one else. That still hurt to know that he caused his friend so much suffering even in death. Until just recently he never believed in any afterlife… now? Everything was up in the air.

With a soft sigh he watched as a stranger started talking to herself as she sized up the vending machine. It brought the young man out of his spiralling thoughts and focussed him back on the here and now, the best frame of mind. Winding up a punch? Now that was just comical then she moved in a rapid blur and belted the machine with her fist, shattering the glass.

Now that was impressive… if it weren’t for having strange powers of his own he would have thought that was some strange magic trick. Then she said it… her closing one liner to the machine. It. Was. Dorky.

Stiffling a laugh he stepped forward. “Wow you’re a dork.” He said before getting in close and reaching past the masked woman to grab a can of Pipsi-Cola and walk away. “The machine is alarmed; the police will be here in a minute, so we better hightail it.” He said, now being an accomplice to this crime. He then looked over his shoulder before opening the can and taking a sip.

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

Here was her prize, a melon soda!  Delicious, refreshing, the perfect thing to wash down a meal...annnnd while she was here she might as well grab a few more drinks to take home, right?  She pulled her soda free, already intending to reach in, before someone stepped in right past her to get a soda out of the machine himself. 

Rabirria blinked and looked towards him, he was absolutely talking to her.  He seemed unconcerned about being so close to an arrancar, and also didn't care at all that she'd broken a vending machine.  He was even warning her about the cops, which told her a few things. 

Then again, her mask fragment didn't exactly scream that it was obviously permanently affixed, and even her hollow hole was positioned right where the navel should be, and not being large it was mostly hidden by her huge buckle and sash, only the very edges of the top visible, and you'd have to be looking and know what that was.  So really why wouldn't he assume she was human?  Then again she didn't see many humans walking around dressed like she was...with a weapon as huge as hers was, or any weapons at all for that matter.

On the other hand, playing along could be pretty funny.

"Damn really?  I just thought this was how you were supposed to use these things." She replied in a tone so earnest it might be hard to realize she was being sarcastic, but she was still going to take the time to get three more bottles from the machine.  Lychee, Ramune, and a cream soda, holding each bottle by the neck between the fingers of her left hand, while the right held her melon soda. 

"My but are you sure you want to risk being seen with a serial vending machine attacker?"  She asked as she started walking after him.  The jaws of her mask parted, just enough to fit the bottle cap and top of the bottle between them, before she'd pull hard, and with a hiss the cap came off and fell to the ground.  Bizarre sure, but it wasn't nearly big enough for him to realize that wasn't just a decorative mask, but her actual freakish hollow mouth. 

[Gaz]

Goku #2

---

No matter the tone, those words could not be anything but a level of sarcastic and that brought a smirk to the young mans face. Luckily, he was facing away so the girl couldn’t catch him stifling a chuckle at her reply. It was so refreshing to meet someone who gave so little crap about the world and could have fun with it.

“Oh? And here I thought I was alone in that category.” He spoke before spinning on his heel and kicking another machine in the side, giving it a serious dent from his heel but not enough to break it open. It did however drop a whole array of chocolate bars and chips into the bottom where he swiftly shoved his free hand in and pulled out as much as he could in one filled fist.

“C’mon, let’s leave before someone actually comes to spoil the fun.” Goku said as he headed down a path to get away, not expecting the young woman to follow him… but hoping she did. It was very nice to have someone that had an attitude similar to his own. “Cool mask, how would I get one like that?” He asked, peeing back at the woman, not considering she was a hollow in any way… even if his phone was vibrating like crazy to say there was one in the vicinity.

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

Rabirria snickered as he kicked the machine and grabbed a handful of snacks.  There was a reason she preferred Japan and that was because of the sheer variety of things you could get, even in just a single vending machine.  With his snacks in hand and her drinks in another she'd set off with him.  The mask opened partly once again and she'd tilt her head and the bottle back.  It didn't seem like she'd pushed it in far enough to hit her lips, and yet none of it would spill past the edges of her mask either. 

"Ahhhhh."  It did click shut though when she spoke though so not realizing it wasn't a real thing on her face was understandable.  "Oh this?  Well that's easy, you get one of the world's greatest monsters to give birth to you and you'll come out with it glued to your face."  He clearly didn't realize she was an arrancar, and Rabirria had a penchant for exaggeration so..."Let me tell you, before my head grew into it properly, it was really hard to see over."

[Gaz]

Goku #3

---

Goku wasn’t slow by any means, he was just a bit dense when it came to the unknown. He should have easily started putting the pieces together after witnessing the woman do a supernatural move to smash the glass on a vending machine. It’s just that she was so human looking! He mistook the mask from a distance for a fashion statement and didn’t notice any hole on her body. It started to click as he picked his phone out of his pocket to stop its incessant buzzing, only to see on the screen in big bold letters “HOLLOW CLOSE!”.

Her words finally sealed the deal, and his eyes went wide, and his smile shifted from goofy to something more nervous. “Fun story.” He said looking back forward as he tapped away on his phone to send a message. “I didn’t know Hollows could look so cute.” He said after hitting the send button, in a flash his phone went back into his pocket and he heard the distant sounds of a police officer approaching the park.

“Well, that’s our que to run away before he catches us!” Goku spoke before darting down the path at full speed and leaping over a bush to cut over a patch of grass to get to a spot out of the policeman’s sight.

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

She didn't think anything of him checking his phone.  She did consider making a wry comment about if that was his mommy calling, but when he'd pulled his phone out, she'd tilted her head back with the bottle wedged between those golden jaws to chug it down.  It was hard to find a moment to hit someone with a joke when you were guzzling down soda.  She lowered the now empty bottle to look towards him, before he mentioned cute Hollows and the police.

Rabirria was already thinking of what to say in reply but he was taking off, leaving her blinking and still holding three bottles of soda.  Finally she just said the first thing that came to mind. "The hell're they gonna do?  Arrest a ghost?"  In fact, she had a way funnier idea than running.  She set one of the bottles down before holding two, one in each hand.  She was going to wait for the police officer to come up, and they were going to see two floating bottles.

Then one would lift up, the cap was going to twist and fly off...and then the cap was going to twist and fly off the other, each getting spat out, but he'd really just see them flying off to hit the park path.  Then, she'd tilt both bottles back and start chugging them both at once, taking advantage of her inhuman, freakishly large mouth, quite confident that this was going to be the "higlight" of this particular officer's day.

[Gaz]

Goku #4

---

Goku had put some considerable effort in getting out of the park, darting at speeds that would make most people think they just watched someone training to be an Olympic sprinter. This short and incredible burst of speed ended as he got to the other side of the fence and noticed that strange girl had not followed him and instead was messing around. He let his jaw drop somewhat. What was she?

The policeman stood there dumbfounded as things moved around him, his hat flew off and bottles of drink started to empty into a nothingness before his eyes. After a moment it all clicked in his head, and he promptly turned around and walked down the path to pick up his hat and leave. His face was a picture of shock, confusion, and a little fright. To the point that he was not even responding to the calls on his radio asking what was going on.

A few moments later the delinquent hopped the fence and slowly walked through the darkened park on the grass towards the strange spirit. “Oi oi, Spectral nuisance. Do you have a name?” Goku asked as he emerged from the trees that were to the side. He still held the snacks and cans of pop he had pinched, but now he assumed this was a lesser in the grand scheme of things.

“You can call me Goku by the way.” He added, out stretching a hand after pocketing some of the snacks.

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

Rabirria stopped chugging the drinks as the cop started walking away.  She swallowed, having to suppress a sudden urge to burp as she instead shouted after the man. "Hey where are you going!?  Don't you want to party?  I promise I'll share the drinks!"  Of course the cop couldn't hear her, but that wasn't the point, the point was that she thought it would be funny, and did indeed start laughing uproariously as the cop head out of sight. 

She was still giggling as Goku came back over towards her, straightening up slowly and wiping her eyes. "Ahhh man that was great.  Seriously what did you think was going to happen if the cop found us?  What did you think he moonlights as a ghostbuster?"

Rabirria snickered, before tossing back what was left in one of the two bottles she'd chugged as part of her prank.  Then she would burp, that was a lot of soda to drink all at once.  "Name's Rabirria, nice to meet a fellow delinquent out in the wild."  Then she'd finish off the second bottle.

[Gaz]

Goku #5

---

“While he can’t see you, he can see me.” Goku explained as he moved closer to the girl in a mask, downing his drink quickly and crushing the empty can in his hand. In a swift movement he brought the can up and threw it into the trash bin that was across the path by making it go over the Hollow Woman’s head.

“And I for one can’t be bothered dealing with my dead beat mum nagging at me after picking me up from a police station.” He explained, not knowing if this being even knew the concept of police stations and dead beat mothers. It was not really her she was scared of… it was Ai, his declawed Shinigami handler who somehow had a myriad of tools to make people do what ever she wanted. That was scary.

“Hollows with names, cute faces, and professions. Tonight, really is flipping everything I know on its head.” Goku laughed as he took the final steps to be closer to Rabirria and outstretched his now free hand to her. As he did, he finally inspected her properly, looking at her mask and scanning the rest of her body respectfully for the hole which was barely visible.

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

"Hah, skill issue."  Rabirria replied, as she tossed one of the empty bottles into the trash can, before reaching down to pick up her last one.  She'd walk over to the trash to drop in the second empty bottle. 

She didn't comment on the deadbeat mother bit, or perhaps that was just because she was stretching, one hand reaching up above her head as her back arched, sighing slowly.  "Pfft, profession? What can you be a professional Vending Machine Vandal?  Damn, where's my manager then?  I haven't gotten paid since I started this dead end job."

Chuckling at her own joke, she'd pull the cap off of her last bottle of soda before putting it to her...jaws.  How did she even speak so clearly without lips?  Then again every hollow that could talk kinda did the exact same. 

"Anyways every hollow has a name, usually though it's something like: Acid Rain, Big Bomb, Crash Override or something.  At least as long as they are a hollow and not, you know, an arrancar."  She shrugged, "Then you get saddled with names like Rabirria.  Frankly I think Crash Override sounds cooler."  She spoke as if he'd know what arrancar were, although she could tell he didn't.  However it was more fun to see if he'd ask or just assume she was making it up.

[Gaz]

Goku #6

---

For a dead girl with no heart, she sure had a great sense of humour the young substitute Shinigami had to admit. She kept up with his jabs and jibes blow for blow, which was a pleasant surprise to Goku. He had expected her to be a dreary and hateful thing that was going to try and punch a hole in his chest to eat his physical heart.

“Crash Override would be a cool name…” Goko repeated slowly, considering the implications of being named something like that, his mind wandering for a moment. A scene of himself sitting in class as miss Devereaux called his name to answer a question regarding the history of art in ancient Rome in her funny French accented Japanese.

“Mine is written with the symbols meaning ‘Root of Problems’. Which I’ve taken to heart.” The young man said as he stopped oogling the girl, being a bit more respectful now he had gotten all the information he needed. He spotted the hole, as well concealed as it was.

“So why are you haunting some empty park in Adachi City? Do we have the best Vending Machines?” He asked, peering over his shoulder to see the one she had smashed with her strange hollow powers. “Or did you come job seeking?”

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

"I know right?!  Like why would you want to change your name from 'Grand Fisher' to some crap people can't even pronounce right when they're talking to you?!"  Rabirria exclaimed with the enthusiasm of someone who felt they'd finally met someone else who 'gets it'.  Although as usual it was noticeably exaggerated.

"Oh I usually write mine in English, I was tempted to learn Greek letters because...I'm pretty sure it comes from there?  Honestly no clue, but eh, it was too much effort and besides, people would probably just assume I was writing down my sorority name."  A joke that might go over a Japanese man's head unless he was familiar with American college culture, or at least the culture depicted in a lot of American movies.  Rabirria didn't seem to care though as she took another swig of her last bottle. 

"Pffft, haunting.  I'm not haunting some park in Adachi city, I'm the Ghost of Japan itself."  She snickered, "I go to all sorts of places around the planet, I just prefer Japan because I like the culture and it has the best vending machines.  Besides why would I need a job when you humans just leave stuff free for the taking in cute little boxes all over your cities?"

[Gaz]

Goku #7

---

The vending machine villain revealed how she wrote her name in English, a language he didn’t really speak. But since he gained powers of the soul, he seemingly just understood what was said. A few words did go straight over his head, like sorority, that was one he had absolutely zero clue as to what it meant.

He chuckled at her self-given title before returning to a walk out of the park. “Ghost of Japan is a bit big for you, Tokyo I’d accept. The Shinigami would have put a bounty on your head by now.” He said looking down to his phone and tapping out a new message in reply to a text notification.

“Well, when you’re unlucky enough to actually have a heart that cares about some people jobs tend to get forced on you.” Goku quipped, spelling out how he came to be in his current situation to anyone that could read between the lines. He had already revealed that he knew of the existence of Shinigami and Hollows, an astute person might start piecing together his situation.

“I gotta say, breaking vending machines for a living has to be boring. Do you have anyone to goof around with?” He asked, twisting on the spot to walk backwards. “Besides random guys in parks that also partake in breaking vending machines?”

---

Goku: fff8c6

[freshstrawberries]

"Hah! What do I have to do to be Ghost of Japan huh?  Start robbing banks in every region?  Can't just steal their booze, food and DVDs?" 

She lifted her hands above her head to stretch.  "Oh please, this isn't how I make my living I just do this to kill time. Then again I guess it is tangentially related to how I make my "living"."  She snickered at the notion of making a 'living' as a ghostly being.  "I got pals though, hell we run a business together even."  What was his situation?  He knew a decent bit about the spirit world, but how much did he know?  He didn't strike her as a shinigami, mostly because he hadn't popped out of his body to try and kill her yet.

"Now, if you really want to have some fun though well."  She'd lower her arms back down, resting her hands on her hips.  Ah if only she had the lips with which to smirk.  "You wanna go cheat at arcade games?"