Hollows, Hollows, Hollows

Why today!?

Those monsters were chasing her again, there were two this time...

Riye couldn't figure out why they'd caught her presence. She'd been keeping low-profile, she hardly ever used her abilities but they'd still managed to find her. If she didn't get away fast enough she'd be hollow food!

She'd just wanted to take a walk...that was all, now she was running for her life through the back alleyways of the city. She didn't look back, keeping her eyes ahead of her as she ran; if she looked back it would only slow her down. Their hungry snarls were the only things she needed to hear to know they were still tailing her.

It was too packed in, these alleyways too small for her to use that speed technique. She wasn't familiar with these back ways and she'd risk running into something or tripping.

Taking a sharp right turn she continued running, panic coursing through her as the adrenaline and fear kept her going. Bright pink eyes widened when the silver haired girl found herself at a dead end.

Oh no...

She turned quickly, the ring on her finger quickly morphing over her arm in a hard shell as she held it up defensively. Oh no, oh no, oh no...

"Huh!" Fay's eyes widened, her heart leaping into her throat. She barely had time to think. She'd tried to leap too high, even for her. From a lower roof to a taller one across an alley no less. Her foot had made it to the roof, but... to the edge of it instead of just on it, giving her nothing to grab on to. "Bwah!" She flung her arms out to try and pull herself up before suddenly slipping off. Oh no.....

Flailing her arms in the air, she did the only thing she could think to do and curled herself up and kicked the wall she was falling parallel to as hard as she could. Thankfully, it was enough to fling her back across the alley. She skidded onto her posterior on the roof she'd originally jumped from, giving a grumbling little grunt of pain. She sat for a moment before forcing herself up, rubbing her backside with a pout. She looked up at the roof again with a frown. Okay... Maybe if she got a better running start...

She hardly had time to practice roof scaling though. A sudden noise that was all too familiar. Snarling. The snarling of monsters. Hollows she'd heard some call them. She didn't particularly care what their name was. Her ears perked up at the sounds of chase and she darted along the roof, clearing a few alleyways, this time to relatively even leveled rooftops to get close. She peered over the ledge at the scene below. Some hollows had that poor girl cornered. A girl who... "Huh?" Who just formed some sort of shield over herself from nothing, it seemed like.

Deciding there were more pressing matters at hand, she took a deep breath and leaped.

Riye would feel something come down on her shield as she most likely expected. Less likely for her to suspect, however, was that the pressure on her shield would suddenly disappear, only for the ground to suddenly tremble ever so slightly.

Fay had landed on it and used it as a springboard, pulling a tight forward spin, extending her leg at the last second to spike one of the two hollows into the concrete, before landing in a crouch. She hopped up into a defensive stance, arms up, before glancing back. "Are you alright?" She asked, not taking her eyes off of either hollow.

Due to the impact, Riye felt herself stumble back as it suddenly pushed off of her. What...?

She opened her eyes just in time to see one of the hollows make friends with the ground, a woman standing ahead of her eyeing the hollows as they attempted to straighten themselves.

"I'm fine..." Riye responded, though her voice was a bit shaky, a bit of breathlessness in her tone due to all the running she'd done.

Her attention was forced from the woman to the hollows as they snarled angrily, one growling to intimidate its prey. Riye backed up a step, her back finding itself against the wall of the dead end.

"We have to get out of here, I can't-I can't fight them..." That woman had managed to kick one into the ground but...wouldn't it be better to get away? There had to be some way...Right?

Fay's eyes darted from one hollow to the other. The one was hurt but not down. The other was trying to scare her. A clear sign that it was scared itself. She began darting from one foot to the other, her poncho-coat swishing back and forth with the motion. She glanced back at Riye again and smiled. "No, you can't. That's why I'm here." She proclaimed as perfectly nonchalant as she could manage, before darting at the Hollows.

Bounding off of the still downed one, she tackled the other, swinging to get her footing on the wall before pushing it into the ground next to the other. The three of them soon became a whirl of strikes and tussling. The hollows seemed stronger then Fay, but she was faster. And as she moved, it was with precise and deliberate movements. It was clear she knew exactly what she was doing in combat. This would become further pronounced when she hopped back to just a foot or so in front of Riye.

She pulled her fist back, spreading her feet to a well grounded position before following through with a straight that utilized her whole body, directly into one of the oncoming hollows. It bounded backwards down the alley before snarling and scurrying off. The other turned to growl at Fay. She frowned, giving her own low growl under her breath. She ran at it, doing a leap just as it reached her, turning before extending a kick that knocked the hollow into an open dumpster, the lid falling shut over it. Fay paused and held a hand to her ear, but only silence came from within the dumpster.

With a relieving sigh, she turned back to Riye, approaching her and glancing over the victim. "Sorry about that. Are you hurt?"

Riye watched in silence, watching as the weaponless woman beat the two hollows down; the three were a flurry and it was hard to keep up. Finally, one of the hollows had been landed in a nearby dumpster and things quieted.

She remained still and quiet, waiting for any signs of the hollows again but they never came. Instead the woman approached her and began speaking.

Riye shook her head, her silver hair swaying lightly as she denied being injured.

"I wasn't and it's fine...you don't need to apologize." She answered, "Thank you, though. I don't know the back alleys well so...I ended up trapping myself."

Fay took the time to slip her arms back through the sleeves of her cloak, adjusting the collar at her neck so it sat just right. She cleared her throat. "No need for thanks. I certainly couldn't let someone get eaten by one of those things. Although I'm curious why they came after you specifically. You had some sort of shield when they attacked.." She put a contemplative hand to her mouth, her thumb resting on her cheek.

"Do you have some sort of power that they wanted to feed on?" She wondered aloud, glancing over the girl. It would be easy to sense more if she were to unleash her other side, but she had a feeling that might frighten someone who already had been scared enough this night. Speaking of enough for one night... She glanced back over her shoulder. Those two didn't seem intelligent... There was no saying they might not come back..

"Why they attacked me...well..." She glanced down at her ring, now back to normal after the attack and resting properly on her finger.

This woman could see them so...it was safe to explain, right?

"It's not normal for people to be able to see them so...if someone can I guess they make a more appealing meal. I can so I guess they sensed that..."

Was there any better way for her to hide her presence? She wasn't cut out for fighting, she wanted to keep far away from those monsters, she didn't want to be their evening dinner...

"Hmm." She followed Riye's gaze down to her ring. Was the ring somehow the cause? If so it was dangerous... But she let the girl continue. Ah. So she could see them. She was... spiritually aware, some had said the term was? Her hand snatched out, grabbing Riye's and leaning in to peer at the ring. She pursed her lips, tilting her head this way and that to try and get a good feel for the item.

"Hrm. Your ring seems... different.." She was stating the obvious, but it's really all she could say. For how supernatural she was, she simply didn't have enough knowledge of the supernatural world. She barely understood her own powers. She let go of the hand and glanced at the girl again. "Hrm... Do these attacks happen to you often?" If this was a relatively rare occurence, it made the matter somewhat simpler...

Riye was a bit surprised when the woman took her hand, peering at the ring that was on her finger.

"It protects me...I can't fight but it helps...keep me safe." She didn't know how to properly explain it. It'd just...been able to do that one day, it'd just stopped being some normal ring and suddenly she could do what she had with it.

"Sometimes, they happen; every few days to weeks...it depends." She continued, answering the woman's question. "I thought I'd been doing well with keeping low but I guess not..."

She blinked, a little shocked. She couldn't fight... but she was attacked by hollows every few DAYS? How... How was she even still alive... She understood the ring protected her, but it's not like hollows were prone to giving up. She began tapping her foot on the ground, frustratedly trying to work the matter out in her head.

"Well.. It can be difficult, especially if you don't really know how your powers work.." She knew from experience on this one. Still... Unless there was an easy solution, it meant the girl was at continued risk... She couldn't just protect one person full time... but she couldn't just leave her.. that would be like signing her death warrant.

"W-well...Hrm.." Ahhh, what to do... "Tell you what. I don't think those ones will be coming back, but just in case... Why don't I tag along with you tonight. I would feel really terrible if I let you just wander off and then you got eaten later.." She gave an uneasy groan. "Was there somewhere you were headed?" It would be bad for her to head home. Even stupid, weak hollows could be dangerous if they found where you sleep.

"Oh. I'm Phaedra by the way. I usually go by Fay for short though."

"Are you sure?"

She wanted to tag along? It was dangerous to be alone yes but...what about her own schedule? Didn't she have things to do? Riye didn't want to interfere...

"I was going to grab some food, I was planning on taking it home but after that it'd be best to eat out..."

She didn't want those hollows following her scent or presence back home, it'd be best to keep away from home for now and let everything die down first...she knew that.

"Ah, I'm Riye. Riye Niou."

She crossed her arms quickly, standing up straight. "Of course I'm sure. I patrol the streets, keeping people safe from scumbags, human or otherwise. It's practically my DUTY to keep a young girl like yourself safe." She said, a little proudly, trying not to go into a full on vigilante rant. She stood like that for a moment before her stomach made a small noise at the thought of food. "Er... besides.. I'm... kind of hungry." She slowly looked away, with an odd pout.

She turned back to Riye with a little foot stomp. "SO! Where are we going to eat then?" She asked, voice confident despite it being a question. She may not be on the street in full vigilante persona but she was slipping into character ever so slightly.

Fay was talking like...a superhero...

Though, with how she handled those hollows she could almost probably be considered one. There were people really like this; not just in books and movies? It was...

...cool!

Riye gave a smile, "How about...there's a nice little restaurant a couple of blocks from here, how about there?"

She raised an eyebrow, her stature shifting to a more regular one. Why was she staring at her like that. Had she laid the vigilante shtick on too thickly? Maybe the girl thought she was insane, or some sort of drifter... well. She was a drifter.

Which raised another small issue. She was smiling but her smile quickly dropped into a nervous little frown. Her crossed arms tightened a little, clearly a little nervous about what she was about to say..

"Sure.. But uhh..." She tilted her mouth into a little diagonal frown. "I don't... have any money?" She made a little disgruntled noise and looked away. She'd lost her wallet so many times hopping around rooftops, she'd stopped bringing it with her.

"Well, you saved me so...my treat!" Riye replied, her tone happy.

It was only right, if it weren't for Fay she'd probably be hollow food right about now; the least she could do was offer her a nice meal. She had her wallet on her in her, and had the money she earned from work to get food off of so paying for their meal wouldn't be a problem!

She immediately clapped her hands together with a smile.  "Well then!  Lead the way, miss Niou!"  She said with a gesture for Riye to take the lead.  "Don't worry.  I'll take it easy on your wallet and won't eat too much.  I am here to protect you, after all, not snag a free meal."  She said with a happy little 'hmhmhm' laugh.  

She escorted Riye out to the street but not before stopping to check the dumpster.  "As I figured.  The little bugger's gone.  He might have phased through it but more likely, he garganta'd away.  That's what these things call their ability to travel between their world and ours."  She sniffed into the dumpster before scrunching up her face and shutting it.  She glanced over at Riye before heading into the street, stuffing her hands into her pockets.  "Pretty crazy stuff, right?"

With a nod, Riye turned to begin walking but stopped when Fay went to check the dumpster where that hollow had been. It wasn't there anymore? Those things had a habit of disappearing, so it wasn't much of a surprise to hear it wasn't there.

"Garganta?" She'd never heard the term before, but it gave some answers to how they got around; kind of. "It is strange, I'm not used to all this spiritual stuff either but I'm learning. It's good to learn though, it helps to know these things."

She had met shinigami before, encountered hollows, ghosts...she'd gotten a decent amount of information like that, well, from the ghosts and shinigami, the hollows just wanted a meal...

Riye followed Fay onto the main street as she replied, her hands moving to the pockets of the thin coat she wore.

She nodded. "Yes. It means throat in spanish." She clenched her hand a little, glancing down at it. She had only found out what to call it herself from another hollow. They were an interesting lot sometimes, hollows. Not these type that just snarled and tried to eat people. But a lot of them talked and, when you kept hurting them until they stopped trying to eat people, some of them could actually be okay to talk to... sometimes....

She hadn't learned a lot from them, but some things. She knew her power was like theirs. She knew that... one thing she could do.... was called a cero... and those crazy holes she could open up sometimes were called a garganta.

"Yeah... I'm not..." she sighed. "Actually that knowledgeable about the spiritual world. I know... a LITTLE about my own powers... I know these things are called hollows and a few things about them.. I also know there's some sort of... Shinigami..." She shuddered a little bit. Death Gods. She'd never met one but she didn't think it would be a whole lot of fun. "Not that I'm in a rush to meet any grim reapers... But that's basically all I know." She said with a small sigh.

"I don't know very much either." Riye replied, her smile small. "I've met ghosts before, most of the hollows I encounter only want a meal though...I've also met shinigami, they were nice from what I was able to tell from the conversation I had with them...that's how I learned about them anyway and some stuff about the spiritual world."

She gave a sickly little frown for a moment, glancing at her hand again. She was suddenly glad those hollows had been too weak for her to need to change.. into her real form. She... wasn't entirely sure what she was, but she knew she felt an awful lot like those hollows. It could scare the bajeezus out of this poor girl if she thought her rescuer was one of them.

Still. She turned her head slowly, eyes wide. She'd met... a shinigami? "You've met.. a shinigami?" She suddenly had an image of Riye speaking to a giant hooded figure with a skull face wielding some sort of demonic sword. "It... It wasn't scary? What did it look like?" She gave a short little exhale, as well as the slightest tremble.

"What'd they look like? Well..." Riye thought for a moment, "They looked like normal people, humans. They dress in black and carry swords around but they look normal for the most part. They kinda dress like they're from older times, not modernly..."

Other than the way they dressed there wasn't much that was different about them in comparison to humans, at least from what she'd been able to tell.

Her steps slowed to a crawl before she altogether stopped walking. She stared, shocked. "They look... like people?" She had spent... years... decades having nightmares about these terrifying shinigami, hunters of all things hollow. She'd even considered try to travel to their world to escape the idea, but she really hated trying to use gargantas and the idea of being stuck in a world where everything was trying to eat her was even scarier.

"Huh...I... Always figured they looked like monsters..." she said, a little mystified. "Old clothes? Black? W-wait... do they... do they dress in big black kimonos?" It wasn't something she exactly saw every day, but she was older then she looked. "I think I may... have seen one... some time before... I had no idea..." Her expression was almost blank. "I thought it was some sort of.. cosplay enthusiast or something." She frowned, annoyed at her own ignorance.

"Kimonos...more like Hakamas but mhmm, that's what they dress in." Riye replied, her smile growing a bit as she turned to look at Fay who had stopped.

Fay had been afraid of them? She supposed it was understandable, their name wasn't exactly the most peaceful sounding...

Her smile became what she hoped was a reassuring one as she faced Fay fully.

"The one I met was nice, quiet but nice. I think, like people, they all differ in personality...but I'm happy I got to meet a nice one."

"Ah. Sorry, I get those mixed up some times." She gestured down at herself. "I don't have THE most eastern fashion sensibilities." She gave a wry smirk, continuing down the sidewalk. "Well, I have in the past. But it wasn't really traditional garb back then." She said with a dry chuckle. Unaccustomed to others with lifespans like her own, Fay was always at least a little awkward about her age.

"Well I'm glad at least some of them are nice. Maybe if I ever see one again I'll try talking to them." She smiled curtly, taking in a breath of the crisp air. "So. Other then get chased by Hollows, what do you do around here?" She figured if she had to watch Riye the remainder of the night, she should get to know her.

"Couldn't hurt to do so, maybe you'll make friends with them."

What else did she do? Hmm...

Riye thought for a moment, there was...well she spent her days doing all sorts of different things. Her work, her interests...

"I work, I have a job at one of the cat cafe's here." She answered. "I also spend time at home reading or watching shows or spending time online. I...have a lot of interests so it's easy to keep myself occupied and entertained."

She gave a small laugh, there were a number of things she did...she was happy though, with all sorts of interests she was hardly ever bored. There was always something new; new shows to watch, new music to listen to, new books or manga to read...