Pho
Member
Pho as Tabawara Udo
Evergloam as Nevada Tegishahara
Evergloam as Nevada Tegishahara
The young spellswordstress walked with the gentle step of an angel, her bare feet crunching as the snow underfoot collapsed under her weight. In her hand was another hand, belonging to her (un)lucky date. The lime-haired officer was her victim of love and she was his, to the point where she would’ve changed her life and position in the Gotei Thirteen for him to hold her in his arms and whisper sweet nothings to her. The thought made her smile, beaming even, but that’s all it was to her. A thought. Their relationship was a tad more dysfunctional than that. It was more or less a relationship of burning a few dummies and roasting marshmallows on their remains instead of cuddling by a fireplace. But she was determined to do one romantic thing with her friend.
Dance.
As they arrived in an opening covered in nothing but the soft, cold blanket of winter, Nevada stopped in her tracks. “Here we are~” she purred and snuggled against Udo’s arm, acting as if the cold winter air was finally getting to her. Jack Frost wishes he could get the young woman cold. “Let’s dance, pretty pleeease!~”
"Oh, I suppose I could," replied Udo, who spun out of Nevada's grip and took her by the waist, and then said, "How about a Waltz?"
While one normally wouldn't expect a reaper to know such a thing, this man had plenty of weapons in his arsenal for wooing.
Nevada grinned, even going so far as to squeak quietly as Udo’s hands found her waist. “Well, I don’t know how to do that. I’m a young lady~ But I’m sure you could teach me, right? A fancy green-haired gentleman like yourself!~” Nevada placed her hand on his left hip, smiling softly, her emerald eyes staring up at his own amethyst eyes.
His eyes looked into hers, and he couldn't glance away. Udo knew now he was trapped in her gaze, but, that was okay. He said, "For this dance, I move around in a box, and you move around with me. First, put your left hand over my shoulder, and look over it."
The lead then raised his right hand up to where it should be, and took her right hand out with his left, arranging the two of them into the starting position. He then said, "Now, for the first step, I'm going to put my left foot forward, and you can put your right foot back, as if the two of them are connected by something in-between."
Udo's foot moved as he said, and hoped his analogy had worked.
Nevada moved with Udo’s motions, falling completely in line against his touch. He commanded her body as he took lead, showing the young spellswordstress how to dance.
When his foot moved, her foot moved. When he moved, she followed. As they slowly began to waltz, she held his hand tightly in hers, yet delicately. A firm touch to show she couldn’t have been happier, as if the smile on her face wasn’t showing that enough. “Where’d you learn to dance from?”
Thankfully the analogy about making a box out of feet actually worked, so Nevada learnt the underlying pattern, instead of just memorizing the sequence of six movements. This was a trick in the teacher's repertoire, which would undoubtedly prove itself useful in times to come. As the pair settled into their dance, and their embrace, Udo said, "Well, once upon a time there was this one lady I had an interest in, and then she invited me for a Waltz. Sadly I didn't know what I was doing, so it left a bad first impression. After that I figured I'd learn it, just in case it proved useful. I'd say it's working quite well, wouldn't you?"
Nevada smiled even more, the snowfall beginning once more around them. Small flakes of beautiful snow swirled about the two, falling on their warm bodies and on the ground, adding to more layers of snow. “So you had a lady. Was she a nice person?” Nevada inquired, looking into the eyes of her date as they moved back and forth, dancing in the gentle snowfall.
The one-two-three, one-two-three, beat of the dance flowed on, moving the pair around in the snow. Their movements grew smoother and smoother as they each became more relaxed. Udo replied, "Heh, I wouldn't say had, she rejected me pretty quickly after that. How about you? Met any special men?"
“Well, I am pretty cute. So what do you think?” the remark was followed with a playful smile before she answered. “Nah, I haven’t had any boyfriends yet. I’m going on a wing just doing the small things I’m doing now, hoping you don’t think I’m weird.”
She rested her head against Udo’s chest as they danced, still keeping movements going flawlessly after having picked up the dance. She listened to the soft beating of his heart, ever ba-dump it sounded off with. She imagined it beating for her, or beating faster with her so close to him. She could feel his chest moving slightly with every breath of winter air Udo took, a smile coming on her features. The young Tegishahara was happy with the little dance and the solitude they had together at that moment.
Weird was what Udo saw underground in the Ninth. Here, he didn't see any of that. The leading partner said, "You're not weird, you're cute, just as you said."
The two swayed through the snow a few more times, until Udo decided he had been waltzing long enough. He coasted to a stop and said to Nevada, "How about we sit down for a bit? I can see a sheltered pagoda over there."
The reaper nodded towards a wooden structure hidden beneath two large trees, protected from the snow and wind.
Nevada nodded, lifting her head from Udo’s chest. She took his hand in hers, her own considerably smaller to his own and more delicate. “I’m fine with that. My feet are freezing.”
The two made their way to the pagoda, sitting on a wooden bench underneath the shelter of the building. She lifted her feet off the ground and underneath herself, practically - and uncomfortably in appearance - sitting on her feet. She brought her hands up to her face, feeling how icy her skin was, yet it never lost the soft pink colour she always had. Her cheeks were stained red, however, and her hands trembled as the wind slowly died down.
“It’s weird feeling cold... I always feel warm, even in this sort of weather,” she admitted, gesturing to her feet. “What about you, Udo? Do you ever get really cold?”
Udo shuffled closer and wrapped his arm around her to provide some warmth. He said, "Natural cold usually shouldn't affect shinigami, although unnatural cold almost always will. A man could walk barefoot through snow and not feel a thing, but as soon as someone shoots ice at him, that sure as hell is cold. Perhaps you have the residue of that mortal sensitivity due to your youth? Or perhaps you feel cold because you expect to feel cold. Anyway, I think you'll warm up now. On an unrelated note, I have some news for you. I've submitted my application for transfer to the Ninth Division."
Nevada perked up at the mention of Udo’s transfer to the Ninth, looking up at the taller man with a great smile. “You have?! That’s great, Udo!” She wrapped her arms around his torso, grinning all the while. “It’s going to be really boring without you in the Eighth until I decide to move, but I think I can get over it~ Will you make Ren and I some cool gadgets while you’re over there in your spare time?” she joked, grinning.
“I’m not sure when I want to move to the Tenth yet. I mean, Captain Pierce is pretty cool. She dumped marshmallows on you and she seemed to be nice. But I like the Eighth, even if it’s full of idiots like Hikaru.” She pulled her arms away from Udo’s body, resting her head on a propped up hand. “I don’t even know if Ren’s gonna stay in the Tenth any longer, to be honest. She said she’s gonna ask Captain Frey if she can join her division and learn under her, so I wouldn’t have anyone to go to in the Tenth except... well, no one.”
“But I could stay in the Eighth and run it like you do when Cap’n Kago’s away. Which is always,” she halfheartedly joked, looking up at the amethyst-eyed shinigami. “I think I’d be an awesome boss.”
"Hah! You've certainly got the confidence for the job. There is a combat requirement though, and I don't think either of us would do very well in a fight against a captain. When you put together Ren's transfer, mine and your potential one, you make it sound like it's transfer season right now. It makes me wonder if anyone else is transferring as well. Anyway, once my transfer is complete, I'm sure I'll end up making gadgets for you guys at some point, but I won't be able to do it for free. Sadly the accounting over there just doesn't work that way."
Udo glanced around his surroundings as if gathering his thoughts from outside of his head, then asked, "You want to roast some marshmallows?"
Nevada frowned slightly at the mentioning of having to pay for her items from the Ninth instead of just doing something else for Udo in place of those. Dates weren’t currency, she supposed. When he proposed the idea of roasting marshmallows, Nevada smiled, nodding her head. “Yep! Let’s roast some!”
The spellswordstress pointed to a spot in front of her, incanting above the winds of winter. “Subjects of fire, dance! Hadou number sixteen, Hiashi!” An auburn ring of fire spun wildly before erupting in a pillar of flames, soon tempering down to a small-scale campfire. “Did you get all the marshmallows she dropped on you?” she asked, a mischievous smile on her features.
The subject of the rhetorical question responded with a raised eyebrow and said, "You know exactly where they landed."
Udo turned his attention to a patch of open ground and said, "The arrows that fell a hero. Falling sun. Mourn, precious moon, for the withering earth. Hadou no shi-juu shi, One Hundred Wooden Arrows!"
As the name implied, a hundred wooden arrows materialized in front of the sitting couple, then flew forward, burying their tips in the ground in a flurry of movement. Udo turned to Nevada with a feigned look of surprise, and said, "Oh look! Some sticks for roasting the marshmallows appeared!"
The man smiled and said, "Would you like the honour of the first roast?"
As Udo casted the kidou, she watched in awe as the sticks found home in the snowy ground. She took one of the wooden poles, sticking a small amount of marshmallows on it, numbering in around three or so. She lifted it from the ground and hovered the treats over the flames, a smile on her face. “I wish we had some crackers and chocolate. Katherine showed me how to make a mean s'more and I haven’t had the chance to make one since.”
When the marshmallows were lightly blackened, she moved them away, instead sticking them into her mouth and chewing lightly. A slight ashy taste filled her mouth from the burnt outer shell, but the inner fluff of the marshmallow was amazing for her taste buds. “Mh! This is awesome!”
Udo lined up some marshmallows as neatly as he could along another arrow, then held it over the flames, turning over and over slowly. The sugary treats grew blacker and blacker, and suddenly ignited all over!
Apparently this was the blade arcanist's plan, because he then drew his stick away from the fire and blew it out. Nevada looked like she thought Udo had ruined them, so he said to her, "They're even more thoroughly cooked this way, and you get a better textural mix of softer on the inside and harder on the outside."
Udo held the stick sideways in front of him, then took a big bite and drew the arrow out to the side, forming a mouthful of soft and crunchy and sweet and bitter goodness in his mouth.
Nevada grinned, rolling her eyes halfheartedly. “I like mine like this. But, I guess I’ll try your way.”
Hovering a second arrow lined with marshmallows over the arcane flames, the spellswordstress repeated the roasting actions Udo performed. The marshmallows blackened more and more before the flames engulfed them, darkening every spot of them and leaving no sign of the trademark white. She moved the arrow away, testing one of the marshmallows. Her face lit up with a smile. “This is actually pretty good too!”
Udo winked at Nevada, proud of his little pearl of wisdom. He methodically roasted and devoured another line of marshmallows, then asked, "So tell me, what brought you to the Gotei?"
Swallowing the fluffy and gooey entrails of the marshmallow beasts she and Udo were devouring, Nevada began to explain why she joined the Gotei. A tale of depression, love, anger and woe. Coupled with some dragons.
Wait, no, that’s all wrong. “Well, I’m not sure if I’ve told you, but I used to have a family in the outer districts of Rukongai. I lived with them a lot and they considered me family, and I’d do everything I could for them. I’d do anything now to have them back.” There was a hint of sorrow in her voice, the slight detail about her parents dying to a house fire still a sore subject, but she went on. “But when I joined the Gotei, I did it for them. I wanted to make money doing missions to send to them to get them a spot closer to me. They weren’t in a safe place, y’know?”
The spellswordstress stuck another arrow tip full of marshmallows onto the fire, repeating the roasting actions. “Well, I joined the Eighth ‘cuz of my scores. High zanjutsu, decent kidou, average other stuff. Now I’m here.”
A sad look came across Udo's eyes and he held Nevada closer, then said, "I'm sorry for your loss. I never really had family here to begin with, although I have a group of close friends I used to spend my time with back when I was in Rukongai. There start of my story certainly isn't so sombre. At some point I learnt I could generate a little bit of spiritual power, and later a shinigami passing by found me. He told me I could learn more if I joined the Gotei, so I was led there by curiosity. It wasn't until after I had joined that anything dramatic happened. I think I've mentioned the fact I was originally in the Ninth. Anyway, one day I suddenly received orders to go investigate a site outside of Seireitei where an incident had happened. It was a bloody place, where the earth was ripped apart by a great battle. There were no signs of any shinigami there, so I tested the blood on the ground, and discovered that there were several. They are all far more powerful than me, including my captain. Just like that, I found the final remains of multiple captains, vice-captains and other high-ranked shinigami. It was a shock that rattled me to the core."
The man's amethyst eyes glazed over, gazing in the general direction of the fire. He said, "Later, there was an opportunity to go on a mission to Earth to investigate a phenomenon occurring there. Hordes of humans, hollows, shinigami and a quincy were engaged in an all-out, many-sided battle. I managed to collect the data that was required, but out of those from my division on the ground, I was the only one who survived. The other few survivors were up a tower for that battle. I liked cutting down beasts with my blade. I liked having someone else at my side in battle. After that, I felt it was unconscionable to stay safe in the lab while others put their lives on the line, so I transferred to the Eighth Division to put myself there."
Nevada listened closely to Udo’s story, never stopping to eat a marshmallow or roast new ones, simply sitting beside him in the snow and listening to him weave his tale about his life. His was a lot more eventful than her own, but she didn’t mind. She’d one day tell others of her own tales, of her own life and the moments she shared with her friends.
“And then what?” she asked, lifting an arrow from the snow and slapping a few marshmallows onto it, stabbing it into the ground to let it roast as she listened.
Udo roasted and consumed another row of confectionery, then continued, "That went well at first. I learnt the name of my zanpakutou, learnt to cast spells onto my blade, even learn to cast spells from my blade, grew stronger and rose through the ranks. There was an insurrection which I played a small part fighting against, and later there was a mission that failed on a catastrophic scale. The higher-ups asked for volunteers to go on a mission to Hueco Mundo, so as enthusiastic as I was, I joined the force. We didn't know what we were up against, and ended up maiming and killing each other as the playthings of a vasto lorde. Just to add insult to injury, he cursed us and let us go. Each individual had a different curse, mine was the inability to release my zanpakutou. It was until a series of battles on Earth much, much later that these curses could be broken."
The spell-blade put his stick down, finally full of marshmallows, and said, "Later, Kago-taichou asked me what it means to be a spell-blade. I turned that question over and over, and eventually realised what I should have known long ago. When shinigami on the front lines charge into battle, any lack of information leads to their suffering. So if I really want to help them, I belong in the Ninth, gathering the information that they need, not in the Eighth, simply adding to the casualties."
The spellswordstress frowned, bringing her knees to her chest. A hollow had the strength to turn captains and vice captains, friends and comrades against each other and spare them? What kind of world was it? She expected to take out a hollow that easily eliminated her friend who rivalled Ren in strength?
“That’s sad...” Nevada commented, casting her emerald gaze up at Udo. “I’m so sorry that you had to suffer through all of that stuff, Udo. I’d have gladly traded places with you if it meant you having an easier life. You’re strong, but that sorta stuff would kill people even as strong as the Captain Commander,” she commented halfheartedly, a frown still on her face. She plucked the wooden arrow from the snow, eating the row of fluffy goodness. “The hollow that did that stuff. The Vasto Lorde? Is he still out there?” she asked, fear coming out in her tone. Fear. An emotion unknown to her except when she faced death on her mission with Reshin and Okita.
She prayed she wouldn’t have to ever face Prometheus. She prayed no one would ever have to.
Udo patted Nevada on the back and said, "Thankfully no, while I was gone Adelaide and the other captains dealt to him. We were very, very lucky that time, because he could have killed far more shinigami before he got taken down, had he wished. I want to make it much, much harder for our enemies to lead us into traps like that one."
The officer looked up at the sky and said, "Considering how many stars I can see up there right now, it must be getting late. Shall we head back?"
Nevada’s precious smile returned as he confirmed Prometheus was dealt with, banished by the shinigami who led the Gotei now. She spared a glance up at the stars, moving her arms around Udo’s. “I guess we could go home,” she replied, sounding a little dejected. They were having a fun time, but they also had duties to attend to in the morning. The woes of being a shinigami.
The blonde looked up at Udo, standing on her tiptoes and placing a soft, yet cold-lipped kiss on his cheek. “Thank you for making tonight fun, Udo. The party was a bit boring, but the marshmallows and dancing were amazing,” she said, smiling wide, almost beaming in the winter night.
Udo smiled back and said, "You're welcome. I look forward to more nights like this."
Udo repaid Nevada with a sweet kiss on the forehead, and the two began their walk back home. Snow fell lightly around them and the moon rose high, both lighting their path ahead, and covering the footsteps behind. Back in the direction of the manor, fireworks lit up the sky in a palette of energy, and the two shinigami had a little chuckle when they realised they had missed the festivities that originally brought them here.
[3556 words]