Breaking the Law (Rabirria/Yama)

[freshstrawberries]

It was a typical evening, there were some clouds overhead as the sun began to dip towards the horizon, but nothing to give anyone a reason to fear storm or rain.  The city streets were filled with people going about their evenings, groups of office workers heading off to drink together, teenagers heading off to various activities and couples out on dates. 

Nothing all that unusual was going on, unless one happened to pass by an out of the way karaoke joint, not some hidden hole in the wall but hardly a huge establishment.  Middle of the road was a good way to describe it, but something strange was certainly going on there.  If one called people fleeing in a panic and screaming about ghosts strange.  Still it wasn't like a stampede just a lot of people hurriedly leaving looking pale as a corpse, with only one or two outright screaming.  Still that could be enough to draw someone's interest and if they approached and entered the joint well...it really depended on what they personally could see.

Several people at tables near the karaoke machine were sitting in their seats and leaning hard away, some were trying to creep away.  A man at the bar was peeking over from the edge clearly hiding behind it, and at the machine?  A woman with bright pink hair and a bright pink robe, a golden serpent tattoo winding up an arm, with a piece of jewelry of a similar serpentine nature around her neck.  Most striking though was the massive spear(sword?) leaning against the wall, and the thing on her face, like a mask set to resemble the jawline of a skull but edged and bedecked with gold, stark white otherwise.

If one could see spirits they'd easily see her, they might even miss the hole right where her navel should be, almost completely hidden behind a large sash, microphone in one hand and a bottle of brandy in the other as she sang her heart out!  Someone who could see ghosts might not realize the big deal, she didn't exactly have a large spiritual signature, but if they paid attention, they might see the eyes of the people not on her...but the things she was holding, as if that was all they could see.

[Ken Shirogane]

Rain or shine Yama would ride. His bike roared along the roads at speeds that could not be considered anything but life-threatening. That was how Yama liked it though, whatever got him the rush he wanted. And short of a life-or-death battle where he shed his own blood against a strong enemy, he'd gladly take the adrenalin rush he could get out of it. He'd always loved riding his Katana. Especially since he'd put extra effort into making it what could charitably be called his war stallion. Customized with extra armor for crashing head-first into Hollow foes. It could take as much the beating as Yama himself could. Sadly the extra weight made him lose a bit of acceleration at the start if not top speed, but this was a bike made for battle, not racing. Not that it had ever stopped him from enjoying a race when challenged.

Passing by a karaoke place, Yama was left somewhat confused when he nearly hit someone crossing the street to get away from it. Luckily he was able to maneuver a quick stop before he hit the man. But quickly reached a hand out to snatch them by the front of their shirt to ask what their deal was. Learning about something strange going on. Getting the info he dropped the man and shifted to park his bike before heading into the place.

It took him a few seconds to realize what was strange. And figured out he was looking at an Arrancar. Unlike another Arrancar he knew by the name Shizu, this one was much more subtle in terms of their energy. Ordinarily, Yama, while being something of a meathead, was quite perceptive at times. Shizu was like a walking freezer, more so when she was pissed off. She didn't really try to hide herself despite generally being a somewhat shy person, at least in Yama's opinion.

This one in contrast was doing things publicly, yet keeping herself contained. It was strange to him to keep herself hidden while making such a spectacle of herself.

Could these people even hear her? Maybe the sensitive ones could. He had not thought about what a spirit might sound like being recorded. Or in this case, having her voice projected by the speakers. He knew he could hear her, but he would have heard her regardless of the speakers. So what did everyone else hear? Or did they only see the ways objects on the little stage were shifting around?

He wasn't sure what was going on here beyond singing. It didn't seem this Arrancar was intent on harming anyone. Maybe just having a bit of fun. The weapon they had nearby was impressive though. Very different from the weapon Shizu had.

He decided not to interrupt the performance though. Instead going to grab a drink, sit down, and watch the Arrancar for the moment. He decided to take a bottle of soju, paying for a bottle rather than just a glass of the stuff, sitting down and taking a swig while sitting and listening. What might stick out most about Yama was just how tall he was before sitting down. Aside from that he was imposing in a few other ways. From the leather jacket to the eye patch covering the socket where his left eye was once contained. He looked every bit the biker he was, and to many people he would be seen as trouble. Because he often was.

[freshstrawberries]

The song the arrancar was singing was a pretty energetic tune, more of a pop song, the kind that didn't easily fit into an easily categorized genre, at least not genres that the average person would recognize.  She was certainly into the song though, swaying and dancing on the stage without a care in the world as she belted the words out.  Really the best way to sound 'good' at Karoake was to have confidence and have at least a basic grasp of rhythm and notes.  Very few people were actually knowledgeable enough on music theory to notice and in a casual environment like this?  As long as you weren't tone deaf and were confident enough to put in some power you'd be fine.

"Nounai zenkai Yeah yappappa Party
Waratte naite odoreba ai ai ao
Pandora hiraite dova tte nomareta Raw
Goran asobase
Acha cha icha icha icha pariin"

Rabirria definitely had all of that, she wouldn't be getting any labels rushing to sign her, but she at least knew how to sing and was completely free of any hint of embarrassment.  Then again perhaps that was because she didn't think anyone could see her, a lot easier to be confident in that situation and with the way she was going at it, did she even notice him walking up to the abandoned bar and grabbing a bottle? 

Well he'd get his answer when the song finally ended, the music finally trailing off as the strange woman put her hands on her hips and turned to him.  Her eyes suggested a smirk or some kind of amusement, but of course that large, skeletal mask over where the mouth should be didn't change at all.  "Enjoying the show there big boy?"

[Ken Shirogane]

He could tell she was enjoying her performance, there was plenty of energy and maybe even practice in it? It didn’t seem like this was her first time singing or even performing the song. But he had to imagine she was doing this more for herself than the crowd though considering they were mostly scared shitless of whatever was going on. He wasn’t sure anyone but him could really enjoy it, unless any other people in the bar happened to be spiritually aware.

Aside from that he had no idea about where the song was from or what style it was supposed to be. His usual taste in music was vastly different and could probably be described generally as “old”. Not that he was old, he just tended to be a fan of the classics. Not that there were not modern day music tracks he didn’t enjoy, but when it came to music his internal library was probably made up mostly of stuff from the pre-two thousands era, and some remixes of those old songs in new styles.

With no one at the bar to serve him he had indeed reached over to grab a bottle of the stuff he wanted and left some money on the table for if they came back. He wasn’t sure how much the bottle would cost, so he just based it off how much a bottle would cost from other stores. Which was probably way off, likely short changing the bar, but they were lucky he was attempting to pay at all really. He wasn’t beyond just stealing a bottle from the bar entirely.

When he was finally noticed by the woman on stage he lifted his bottle to her and gave a little nod before taking a long swig to empty half the bottle with a relaxed sigh. “Yeah, suppose I am. I came here to see what people were screaming about, but it looks like the situation really wasn’t that serious. Nice singing though.” He offered something like a toast or salute. “You do this sort of thing often?”

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PC: 2

freshstrawberries

[freshstrawberries]

"Every thursday unless I'm not feeling like it."  Rabirria replied to his question casually.  A complete lie of course, she did this whenever the hell she felt like it, Thursday or not.  She'd come strolling over casually, tossing the microphone up into the air before catching it.  What a curious fellow, she'd never met too many humans who could see her before, him and that high schooler were some of the only ones that didn't try to pick a fight.

She'd extend the microphone towards him, she'd grin if she had the lips for it. "Alright guy, why don't you take a spin at it?  I won't let anyone say I'm a mic hog."

[Ken Shirogane]

Could it even be called a lie? It might be inconvenient if he decided to search her out some Thursday night, not that he really had any reason to do that. From her attitude so far though, he kind of got “party girl” vibes. In his experience the people he described that way were rarely consistent with anything they did except to be consistently inconsistent, always looking for the next new and exciting thing to come their way. Of course, it was just a basic assumption. Who she was or what she did were not really important so long as she didn’t cause too much trouble. How much was too much? Hard to say. For Yama that too was more of a vibe than a hard line. Like drawing in the sand, the line was always shifting with the tide of the day.

He chuckled to the mic being offered his way, setting his bottle down as he reached to take it. “Sure. It’s been a while since I flexed the old pipes in a public place. I don’t think I can sing nearly as well as you can, but hopefully I can be called at least average.” He noted before heading up on stage, shifting through the music as he debated what to sing to.

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PC: 3

freshstrawberries