The Good, The Nat and The.... Arrancar? [Cala/Natasha]

Having been traveling the Americas now for a long while, whether for a date, cooking lessons, or a particularly harrowing run-in with one Liltotto Lamperd the Calas, both of them, had decided it was best they continue in their training of their meeker half in ways to protect themselves. Their Masked half advised that since they had responded so poorly to cutting Kenichi that perhaps it would be better if they considered ranged combat? They had no interest in it but their Maskless self, they argued, had always been somewhat closer to the living world in temperament and preferences.

Thus it came to be that, sure enough, upon asking where in America they could practice with guns they were pointed to one place in particular.....

Texas.

So it came to be that, after a rather expensive purchase from some shifty individuals promising Cala a 'good time' if they came with them Cala politely declined and replied that shooting by themselves would be a fun enough experience. Of course, as Cala left, they had not exactly asked HOW to shoot the gun. A fact they would come to regret a bit later as they sat, cross-legged and frustrated, shaking the handgun and turning it this way and that. Pouting in confusion they coughed as some dirt was kicked up by some stray wind, some soda bottles set precariously on a wooden fence about ten yards away.

Thoroughly bamboozled Cala tried to pull the trigger, at least as hard as a human could, but it did not budge. They tried to pry the clip out of the bottom of the handle but it did not seem to want to budge. Now biting their lip Cala turned the gun and closed one eye, peering down the barrel as maybe something was stuck inside and keeping it from shooting?

Natasha wasn't particularly the biggest fan of returning to her own hometown, all things considered. It was a place that held it's fair share of memories she'd rather forget, but a mission had brought her here. Naturally, duty called, and after handing the series of hollows she found in a particularly crowded area. Natasha had decided to grab a bite to eat. Her first trip was a visit to a place that sold some great Texas BBQ. After they prepared her food, she made her way towards where her soldat would be so she could make a quick return home. That was, until, a young woman - or man, Natasha could hardly tell these days - caught her curious ole' eye. Well, it was more than just a curious ole eye. There was also tremendous worry. They were staring intothe barrel of a gun, after all. Either, they had suicidal intentions or they simply had some other mental issue she couldn't pinpoint. Playing the motherly role, Natasha approached Cala from behind, maintaining a distance so they wouldn't startle them.

"You okay over there, darlin~? I don't think you should be starin' into the barrel of a gun. Somethin' botherin you'? I got some BBQ if ya need a random Texan' lady to speak to," She offered, motioning her hand toward the food, canting her head to the side to get a view of the stranger's face.

Despite Natasha's best efforts Cala was considerably easier to spook in this form than most people and so as the motherly Texan called out to them Cala would yelped and startle all the same. Resulting in the gun being tossed briefly skyward, only to clatter to the dusty ground, thankfully not discharging in the process and Cala would turn to look up at her. Oh. Well she was very pretty. Something about her demeanor reminded Cala of Hiroe, though in a more mature sense, and when Natasha offered some food Cala's stomach rumbled audibly. Earning a blush from the small Arrancar who would, suddenly feeling very sheepish, stand and shuffle over to her.

Staring down at the ground Cala would scuff their foot in the dirt, hands laced in front of them, and a small pout would form on their lips as the small skull hairpin glinted softly in the sunlight among their raven locks. Cala was not entirely sure how to speak to this woman who, for once, did not seem to mind that Cala was an Arrancar so Cala would instead lift their pouting expression to look Natasha in the eyes and glance back at the gun briefly before murmuring.

"I-I umm.... I am trying to figure out h-how those work. I'm not very good at umm..."

Cala would look down at the katana on their hip and sigh.

"..... s-swordfighting. I don't like seeing blood up close so I thought maybe it might be a better idea to use something more modern."

Cala would give a very timid, indecisive shrug and purse their lips, hanging their head as they stared at the ground.

"Phew... that's a relief. I thought ya' were harborin' dangerous thoughts or somethin'. Rule number one with firearms; Don't go starin' into the barrel. One wrong pull of the trigger, and you could lose an eye playin' around like that."

Not a swordfighter, eh? Natasha could understand that to some extent. Their frame didn't necessarily speak to one who could wield and swing a sword with any killing force behind it. Of course, wouldn't that be selling her short' a bit? Natasha was no swordswoman, either, but part of the talent came in how well one could execute technique rather than relying on their physical acumen to win. From the sound of it, they were seeking an alternative way of combat in the form of learning how to fire a gun.

Giggling softly, Natasha pat their head a bit. So, that's what this was all about. She was trying to understood how guns worked. Being an arrancar, she sort of expected that, too. Now that she had heard that, Natasha sighed with relief as she fashioned a table of reishi and chairs for them to sit at, welcoming them to join her in some good ol' BBQ. After directing Cala to pick up the gun, she'd wait for them to arrive so they could speak together.

"Well, allow me to say' firstly that yer in luck, sweetheart. I fancy myself as somethin' of a natural born gunslinger. Hell, it makes up half of my overall abilities. I'll gladly teach ya' the ropes. First, let's tend to the appetite first, hun. I could hear that rumble from a mile o' way."

Cala didn't even know what kind of "dangerous thoughts" Natasha may have been referring to, and simply gazed up at the pretty Texan with wide, trusting eyes. Their head slowly nodding up and down as she informed them not to look into the barrel and they did wince at the idea of losing an eye. Cala would look over at the gun and, suddenly feeling very silly, would fiddle their hands together in front of themselves and shrug sheepishly. Their voice little more than a very bashful mumble.

"O-Oh. I just thought that.... it only shot things when you wanted it to......"

At suddenly feeling the woman pat their head Cala blinked, confused, before then deciding that the next time they went out with Saiko they would have to question her on why so many people pat their head and booped their nose. It was happening enough that Cala was beginning to think they were misunderstanding some sort of living world cultural thing! This plan thoroughly in place Cala would blink as Natasha summoned a table and, nodding as she directed them to pick up the gun, would sit down with her and stare longingly at the BBQ before them. Almost salivating for a moment before Natasha spoke up and Cala turned their wide lavender eyes to her instead, before.... tilting it in confusion.

"O-Oh..... you use guns a lot?"

Cala would look at the chairs and table made of Reishi, then at Natasha, then at the gun and sheepishly ask.

"Umm.... Miss? W-What does summoning chairs and tables have to do with being a..... gunslinger?"

Cala was genuinely, heart-achingly, confused and curious as they muttered that question. Completely and utterly oblivious to Natasha and her abilities.

"Unless it's a gun constructed with some magic' function' or some silly ole' witchcraft at work, no gun is gonna go boom automatically," Natasha humored, ruffling Cala's hair as she opened the large box of BBQ, presenting Cala with more than enough for the both of them to enjoy. Ribs, smoked sausage, brisket---the works. Natasha didn't fancy herself as a heavy eater, but the employees were fond of her and decided to fill her box with an assortment of treats, anyway.

After motioning that it was okay for her to dig in, Natasha helped herself to some homemade mac, though the first bite nearly fell out after she laughed a little at Cala's question. She must have thought that was her only ability, if she had to make a proper guesstimate. Winking at the woman, Natasha placed her hand towards the air, tapping into her prized spellcraft ---Gunplay---forming Casanova with her free hand.

"Not much at all, darlin'. Granted, m' a quincy so I can do a lot of cool things with objects. Most of my reishi absorption is typically centered around forming these bad boys, ya see?"

Manipulating it's shape, the desert eagle, Casanova transitioned to a standard firearm that was once carried by police officers in the past. Roxanne.

"If we had some targets, I could give ya' a demonstration', but let's eat first and get to know one another'. Name's Natasha Miller, sweetheart. And yours~?"

Cala ducked their head as their hair was ruffled and was not CERTAIN there was something causing people to ruffle their hair! Ari, Saiko and now this lady had all done it! Cala was now determined to figure out what about their hair made it so tempting to ruffle! Not that they did not like the act, especially from Saiko, but having lived so long being afraid of contact and being devoured it was an odd thing to get used to. Though the offering of delicious-smelling food DID distract them from being too off-put by the action so when the pretty blonde lady motioned for them to dig in Cala happily obliged.

Cala was busy with a mouthful of food when Nat laughed at their question and, looking up at the Quincy, Cala would blink in confusion. Only to swallow down the mouthful and blush brightly in embarrassment as they realized how silly their question must have been. But as Natasha formed a gun out of energy and mention their ability to absorb Reishi Cala tilted their head. Both familiarity and confusion striking them. Finding this lady to be very trustworthy and kind, especially as Cala was not hiding their Arrancar nature and she had not attacked them, Cala would lift a hand and form a small spire of Fade up from their palm. Cala's voice soft and curious as they looked from the Fade to Nat, and back.

"Reishi.... absorption? Like this?"

Cala would have the small tendril of Fade touch Natasha's arm softly and, surely enough, it would begin to softly leech energy from her and into Cala who would shiver softly at the feeling of Natasha's energy entering them. It didn't feel anything like that of a Hollow, it was..... warmer but also more like electricity. Though not wanting to be rude Cala would only do this briefly and, when Nat mentioned her name and giving demonstrations on targets Cala smiled and nodded.

"W-We're Cala. It's nice to meet you Miss Natasha umm... thank you for being so nice. Most people usually a-attack us....."

Cala trailed off, pouting softly, before extending a hand to form up five circles of Fade in the air. They would then direct them to float out to varying distances and nod. Small lines of the ash-like substance would connect each target to Cala like an IV and they would look up at Natasha curiously.

"Are those okay?"

Natasha quietly rose an eyebrow at the small spire that had attached itself to her arm, noting the fact that it was leeching on her energy. It was an odd act, to be certain, but this woman sitting next to her certainly was already an odd individual to begin with. She didn't recognize her as an enemy, though, and simply tossed it up to her lacking the principle understanding of what she had meant. She would give her an A for effort at least, and casually patted the woman's shoulder, shaking her head softly.

"No, no. Not quite like that. More like this..."

Natasha would hold her hand up towards the air, momentarily absorbing reishi around her as she formed another gun beside her head. This wasn't fashioned out of her spellcraft, however, and was more a conduit to focus spiritual energy through more than anything else.

"Ya gather reishi from the air, like bees to a beehive, and boom, if yer me, ya let loose and start firin'. Anywho, don't worry yer pretty lil' head, missy or uh... whatever you... two like to be called? Anyway, ya' can just call me Nat'. Miss makes me feel old," she quipped, a soft chuckle escaping her lips. Turning her neck towards the five circles of fade in the air, Natasha nodded her head to let Cala know that those were relatively perfect for what she intended to teach them.

"Yep, that's about right. Now move em around a bit, and lemma show ya' somethin' cool, sweetheart. I'll show ya how to really work' a gun.'

Cala stared up at Natasha in.... wide-eyed confusion for a long, silent time. Truthfully they did not see the difference, could not sense the difference, between what their Fade did and whatever Natasha was doing. The only difference seemed to be that she could pull it out of the air which, sadly, Cala could not do. Still Cala was not the arguing type and Natasha had been very nice thus far so..... Cala simply nodded as she requested to be called "Nat" as a nickname. Though Cala did smile softly, completely oblivious, and simply respond.

"O-Oh just Cala is okay...."

As Nat seemed to approve of their targets Cala nodded and, biting their lip in focus, began to have the targets move in reverse directions from one another. Sweeping back and forth at various ranges and even lightly dipping closer and further a little bit as Cala tried to make it at least a little fun for someone who seemed such an expert as Nat, at least to Cala's untrained eyes, and she had promised them to show them something cool. Well, as far as Cala could tell, Nat was already cool but seeing her work a gun seemed like a great way to learn!

"O-Oh! Okay! But you already seem cool to me Nat, your voice is really nice and ummm.... unique and I have never seen someone take energy like our Fade can. That's also really cool. Plus you know how to use guns and your food is good."

Cala would nod and smile, their speech slow and admittedly shy, but nonetheless Cala was quite the fan of the pretty Texan already. She could drain energy like them, could teach them about guns, and provided great food!? Cala was already more than happy to call Nat a friend even if she was virtually a stranger at this point.

"Aw, lookit you, flatterin' me already. I wish I could take credit' for the food, but this came from a good ole' food joint' I use to frequent back when I lived here. I can whip up a pretty good meal' in ma' own right, though," she humored, setting her portion of the meal to the side for a moment, rising up from the wide bench. Swiping her arms through the air, Natasha swiftly grabbed the reishi firearm, Roxanne, positioning the gun in the air as she closed one of her eyes to properly focus on the target.

Without missing a beat, she shifted the gun in concert with the five fade circles. Each motion was purposeful, devoid of needless movement, as her each bullet flowed through the air with remarkable precision and focus. To her, aiming a gun with clockwork accuracy was an artform, and she was the artist painting an image for the arrancar who sat before them.

After a few moments, Natasha opened her eye, sitting back down to twirl her reishi gun around before she allowed the weapon to dissipate into ambient reishi. Turning towards Cala, Natasha smiled softly as she winked towards them, returning to the prior enjoyment of her meal.

"I know ya' said ya' thought I was already ice cold, but I couldn't help but show off for the crowd' real quick, ya know~? Were ya' impressed, Cal?"