Exploring the world! (open)

A vacation, now this was a rare treat indeed. Daiji had never taken a vacation in his life. He didn't ever think he would, but here he was in Paris in his gigai staying in a nice little hotel about a mile away from the Eiffel Tower.

Paris was such a beautiful city, and Daiji couldn't wait to explore it and everything it had to offer. All the food, wine, and art were calling out to him. It was all so exciting, and he'd finally get to put his French lessons to use!

"Hello, can you direct me to cafe black?" Daiji asked in an almost perfect French accent. His French mustn't have been too bad, because he got directions to the little cafe and found his way there with ease.

He was almost to the little cafe when he was suddenly pulled into an allyway, and shoved against a wall where a guy held a knife to his chest, and another pointed a gun at him.

"Give us everything you have, and you might not get hurt...too bad."

Daiji panicked. He was in his gigai, what on earth could he possibly do? Daiji reached down to his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He pulled out all his cash, which was only like fifty dollars, and handed it to the man.

"That's all the cash I have. Honest."

Then man wasn't pleased and he struck Daiji across the face. He moved the knife up to the young man's face, pushing it against his milky white skin.

"This isn't enough faggot. I want more!"

Phaedra was in France. Why was she in France? Because it was easier to keep her fake birth certificates from here and that made it simpler to GET them from here as well. And she needed a new one for her current Japanese visa so here she was, wasting time waiting for the forger to finish, hopping about rooftops.

At least until she heard someone in distress below. Hrm. Two guys, holding up some poor boy. Hah. They were in for a rude surprise. She leapt off of the rooftop, doing a little flip. As she came down, a light would suddenly flare in front of them, blinding all three of the people below. She came down on top of the one with the gun, knocking him immediately unconscious, before disarming the gun from the other while he was stunned. She immediately disassembled the gun and chucked the pieces aside, before besetting that mugger, pushing him to the wall and laying into him.

"Whoa!"

Daiji watched in shock as this woman took out both the men. Who was this lady, and what made her want to save him? Daiji grabbed his money back from the man, and shoved it back into his pocket before turning to the woman.

"Thank you so much. I don't know if I'd have made it out of this without your help."

Daiji laughed sheepishly and rubbed the back of his gigai head. Maybe she should get out of his gigai and check to make sure these guys were alright? Though in the back of his head he thought they deserved what they got, but he still was torn about wanting to help them.

Fay turned to face the small man. Hrm. Something seemed... off about him... Her eyes quickly ran through a gamut of colors, but nothing came back.. Maybe he was normal? But something just... Hrm.

She crossed her arms. "No worries, citizen. Just doing my part." She said, with a nod, before turning, prepared to leave. She hesitated. "Where did you come from? You seem odd..." She wondered aloud, fixing him with a cold stare.

Daiji blinked trying to get the stars from his eyes. Whatever that was the woman used had blinded him. It seemed to be only temporary, as it seemed to be fading.

"Gyah! What is that?!"

Daiji rubbed his eyes madly, trying to increase the speed in which his vision returned to normal.

"Where am I from? Where are you from with whatever that was you blew up?"

Fay noticed the small ivory man rubbing his face. Her expression softened a little. "Stop rubbing your eyes, you're just going to make it worse." It was natural instinct but it would just make his vision blurrier.

"I'm.." She paused. She still didn't know who he was... Besides, she was going to be telling him mostly the truth anyways. "From an orphanage out in the countryside... and what you just experienced was a flashbang to distract those muggers from ending your little life... Something you still haven't thanked me for, by the way."

Something was off putting about this man and he ALSO was not acting appropriately for her saving his life or worse...

Daiji listened to the woman and stopped rubbing his eyes. It did seem to help a lot. His vision become more clear, even though it was still blurry.

"I'm Daiji, and I'm from...a place really far from here."

He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed the tears his eyes were making. His vision was still pretty blurry, but he could almost make out the woman's features.

"Man, those things really pack a punch."

A place really far from here? Why was he being so secretive about it? Maybe he was just still shaken up... "Really far? So you're not a local." She said, beginning to pace. She glanced over. "That is the point. I apologize that you got hit with it. I wasn't going to gamble your life to avoid your discomfort though." Her voice was stern but less cold.

"Not a local? Heh to say the very least."

Daiji resisted the urge to rub his eyes, even though he really wanted to. He knew he'd better heed her advice and avoid making it worse.

"Thank you. I really appreciate it. I would have done the same if the roles were reversed."

If he could have pulled it off. Calling Daiji a cluts was a bit of an understatement.

"To say the least?" She repeated it out loud, her eyes narrowing slightly. She sniffed the air again. Something just felt... OFF.... About him... about... everything right now... She glanced at him with a small "hm?" noise. She narrowed her eyes again, glancing him over.

"You would have broken your legs." She said, not hesitating a moment before continuing "So you said 'the very least'. Where ARE you from?"

Daiji's vision was almost back to normal by this time. He could pretty much see everything now. What had never changed was his sense of hearing, and he could tell this woman knew something was fishy in Denmark. Her questioning didn't really leave him much room to wiggle around the truth.

"Well firstly, I guess I am just lucky heh. Secondly, well it's a different land. Another country."

That wasn't exactly a lie. Soul Society was Japanese, and Japan wasn't France.

Why wouldn't he just say which one... He could just lie and she would have believed him... Now she was suspicious. She took a slow step closer to him, leaning forward, eyes narrowed. "WHICH country.." she asked rather bluntly, a menacing growl starting to build in her throat. She curled her hands to crack her knuckles, prepared to deal with this situation if this was more of a disagreement between criminals and not a mugging.

Daiji laughed nervously as the woman stepped closer to him in a threatening manner. He cleared his throat and tried his best to not sound like a total moron.

"J-japan."

Daiji pointed to his face and hair.

"See, I'm Asian."

Fay narrowed her eyes. What was he so nervous about? She was just asking him simple questions. She leaned in closer, before sniffing once. Something just seemed... like... It was like when those monsters, hollows showed up, but... radically different... almost completely different.. "You wouldn't happen to be... a hollow, would you...?" She asked, rather sternly, her hands curling into fists. If he didn't know she was spiritually aware before, he would now..

"I most certainly am not!"

Shit. Now she'd know he knows what hollows are. Wait...how did SHE know what hollows are? Daiji scratched his head in thought, and began to eye the woman. She looked normal enough, but so did he.

"How do you know what hollows are?"

How did HE know what hollows were? Something was really fishy here... If he knew about hollows, but wasn't a hollow... She threw her fist into the wall next to him, as a calculated effort to nerve him out. "You know what Hollows are, but you're not a hollow? What ARE you then?" She asked. What the hell had she stumbled into here?

"Bah! What kind of barbarian are you? You can calm down I'm not going to start any trouble"

If this lady only knew Daiji would be lucky to fight his way out of a wet paper bag, she'd probably not be so uptight. Just pushed his glasses up on his nose and tried to calm his nerves a little.

"I Madam and a shinigami. Very much NOT a hollow."

He was.... She blinked a few times, processing what he said. Images of giant awful skeleton monsters popped into her head. She made a small sound like a hiss and suddenly she was away from him scrambling backwards, an errant backflip thrown into the equation. "Y-y-you're one of those... Shinigami? A Death God?" She asked, trying not to stutter. Okay, Fay.. Calm down.. so he was some sort of nightmare boogeyman...

"Huh?"

Daiji scratched his head in confusion. Just now this woman was super tough, and now she was tripping over herself. Did he say something to offend her? That had to be it. Good going dork.

"Oh gee, I'm sorry miss. I don't know what i said to distress you, but I truly am sorry. I make it a point to be nice to everyone. I don't think I've ever been mean. Oh goodness."

Daiji looked in his pockets. He had brought some candy with him, but he couldn't find it. It must have been in the pocket of his lab coat. Daiji exited his gigai, and found the candy. He walked over to the woman and offered it to her.

"Some candy to show my apologies?"

Fay looked him over cautiously, prepared to strike or, more likely, run away if he tried anything funny. She'd never met a soul reaper but she'd heard the stories. Wandering death gods going about slaughtering things. She didn't think they would even look human. Could it be a disguise? Daiji would notice something odd as her eyes glowed blue, then shifted in color to green, red and purple, before back to their normal non-glowing blue.

"Is it safe to eat?" She asked, glancing at the candy, but not taking it yet.

Daiji held out the fruit flavored bar of candy, waiting for the woman to take it. As he waited, smiling gently at the woman he noticed her eyes began to change color. What the heck kind of witchcraft was that?

"It's fine. I'm a medic. I wouldn't give you something that would harm you. I'm probably the nicest person you could meet."

He wanted to ask her about that eye thing, but he didn't want to be rude. She seemed to be a touch high strung already. All he needed to do was offend her.

She didn't move. Not one inch. She kept looking from him to the candy before finally her hand snaked out and took it. She looked it over and sniffed at it, before staring at him again. Was he trying to mess with her? Maybe things weren't... as they seemed?

"Aren't... I thought Shinigami were grim reapers. Big scary monsters who went around reaping souls and slaughtering spirits."

"What..."

Daiji had to resist the urge to laugh at the woman. She had clearly watched too much anime and read too much manga. After she took the candy bar from him Daiji placed his had over his mouth to stifle a chuckle.

"Shinigami are just human spirits. Even hollows start out as human spirits. Shinigami all look like me. Well not exactly like me, but like people."

She blinked... They.. They were... But... But.. But the hollows! They'd said... Okay. Maybe hollows were... not the most trustworthy sources. Hm.. But could she trust this Daiji person? Then again... he had just been about to get mugged by humans...

"Just... human spirits?" She crossed her arms. "But... But I thought they had like... special powers and stuff and fought hollows?" She was thoroughly confused now and found herself absentmindedly starting to eat the candy bar.

"Ok, let me go into more detail."

Daiji paced back and forth a little thinking of how he should word it. He'd never had to explain this before so he wanted to make sure he got it right.

"In Soul Society there are Plus Souls and Shinigami. Shinigami start off as pluses which are just human spirits, but then the ones who become shinigami gain powers in the form of a zanpakuto. Like mine."

Daiji looked down to show her his zan, but it wasn't there. He must have left it back in his hotel room.

"Well...if I had min. Anyway, shinigami are grim reapers in a way. When humans die we come to earth and send their souls to Soul Society. We also fight hollows, but not to wipe out the race, but to keep the balance of the worlds."