Returning the Favour [Alastair, Sophie]

He took a sip of the Schwarzer Sturm and was pleasantly surprised, it was an acquired taste and certainly not one he had ever quite experienced before but not something completely intolerable. That didn't mean that Alastair would be in a rush to order the drink again, once was quite enough, but he could carry on with this one without looking uncomfortable - which had been his principal point of concern for the whole situation.

"Oh, I think we will be able to manage."

He took note of the subtle manner in which she had responded to his suggestion, focused upon his wellbeing rather than her own, and how it implied that she would be fine regardless. What a pair of portable radiators they were. The thought amused him enough to draw a wider smile to his lips.

As they headed outside, Alastair leading the way once more, he reached out with his own innate talent for reishi manipulation and began to gently heat the local area. Hopefully, it wouldn't offset the balance enough to make Sophie and her boiling blood uncomfortable, rather just make it pleasant for both of them. If she looked to be annoyed by it then he could dial it back and make do but, at the moment, this was based on the knowledge of something he knew little of.

"Looking out for others is nothing to be ashamed of, I certainly think it is admirable. That is a reason why I started down the path to join the Vandenreich, you know, to put my own strength to use for the greater good."

Whether it was arrogant of her to have said it or not, he fed into it a little and offered something more. Though he was loathed to publicly admit it for how pretentious it sounded, he was proud of his convictions and enjoyed her own willful admittance of such.

She waited for him outside, not missing the subtle change in air temperature that lingered in the air around them. It wasn't unpleasant for her, that was for sure. It wasn't like he was trying to cook her or anything and a nice warm day wouldn't have her sweating. Maybe if something was trapping the heat then it might be uncomfortable.

"I see, so how did you end up in the Vandenreich anyway Alastair? I joined during World War 4."

Sophie was by all means considerate, though in hindsight she felt a little awkward having him compliment her for it. In actuality she was entirely selfish as a person and her statement had been an attempt to recover her accidental statement for suggesting he might struggle in the cold.

Not lingering on it she got back to the conversation, a small little bit of information about her but not telling her whole life story and making it all about her. There was an interest towards him she'd rather satisfy after all.

He supposed that he had started this ball rolling, both in terms of suggesting this date at all and in terms of engaging with a genuine topic of conversation, and so it was his duty to share something of himself first. As much as he might have enjoyed listening to Sophie chat away for hours on end, that was not fair on her and rather unrealistic. If he wanted to get to know her a little better, and Alastair was certainly of the opinion that he did, then he would have to coax it out bit by bit.

"I suppose the path had always been open to me, my parents are both prominent Quincy and that meant they always had ties with the organisation. I had been training for such a thing since I was old enough to be spiritually aware too, and by my early teens the offer was on the table but I was doing well enough learning from my family."

Taking a quick drink to calm his nerves, he mused that this was perhaps the most open he had been about his past life and - though it was hardly filled with dramatic revelations - he was not a natural sharer. Inwardly, he cursed equally his introverted self for struggling with this and his extroverted self for getting him into this. But the Sturm soon worked its magic, and he ventured onward without ceremony.

"The rumours of impending conflict is what spurred me into making the leap, I wanted to do my part and make the world a better place. That was something I could not achieve by myself, so enter the Vandenreich. Right in time for the fourth war to start, as you say."

She gave an eager ear to learning, this wasn't particularly unique for him. Sophie's curious nature meant that she would show such interest to almost anyone though not everyone was currently on a romantic date with her now were they? So in a way, it was quite a bit special for her to lend her ear to him and sip away.

"Ah, I see. I can't say I'm of Quincy descent. My family moved to Europe a couple of generations ago, that's where I grew up most of my life. It was such a small little piece of the world though and I wanted to travel so I set out and eventually ended up in America. Just in time for World War 4 as well. I can't really say it was something that crossed my mind immediately, though after a couple of close calls and getting saved I did want to repay the act in some way to the organisation."

Her eyes gazed over the horizon while she thought about the events that got her here, better finish the story. It wasn't nice to leave a guy in suspense too long.

"I apparently had quite the aptitude for the training though, I had achieved competency in many of the Quincy fields that I still saw combat during the war and after that I extended myself. Somewhere along the way I ended up being promoted to administrator and here I am now, I suppose."

She looked over at him and gave a smile, another sip as well. Just to keep herself going. It'd been a while since she did something like this. It must've been at least two years now.

Alastair found that he could not suppress the wry grin that had materialised on his face when she began talking at length, it felt so childish and unbecoming of him, and yet he had no desire to insult her by looking away or even hiding his expression. They were on a date, so best she knew that he was at least as interested in her and she was him.

"You are not a Quincy by blood? You could certainly have fooled me, with only what few ways I have seen your abilities to go on I might have presumed you to have been doing this all your life."

He sat back in his chair, a pleasantly quiet laugh escaping his lips before he could catch it, so he took another sip and continued.

"Though perhaps we might all learn faster when there are the burning coals of war beneath our feet. It made warriors of us all, for better or worse, and now we can look back and reminisce."

Was this a good pace for how the evening should progress? The night was still ever so young and yet he did not wish to overwhelm her. But his mouth was firing as fast as his head was, and he did not wish to stop it.

"Is that so?"

It was a genuine question, Sophie didn't really think too much about her growth and how quickly she progressed. People called her a prodigy because of it but she always got irritated since it felt like they downplayed how much work she put into getting to the level she was at. Just being born with an aptitude for something was an idea that irritated her.

"Maybe. I can't say I really rushed anything, though I did put a lot more time than my peers into my studies when I was training to adjust to the Quincy methods."

He was laughing and that meant she had to be doing something right so she gave him another grin and sipped at her drink, letting her mouth just carry on the conversation.

"You know, you've got the same name as my brother. It's a little funny, same colour hair as well. You're not like him though, he's something of a... punk."

Yeah, that's how she'd describe her brother when he was younger. She'd not seen him since but he was a punk in his youth. Definitely not mature or a gentleman, just a loud and rowdy country boy.

"Most certainly, dedication is admirable in itself and even more so when it produces results."

He was quick to assure her until the conversation took a different turn. Was it good to be compared to your date's brother? Was it also good that she didn't think they had much in common beyond a shared name and similar shade of hair? Generally, it probably wasn't. But he was paying more than enough attention to note the way that she stuck on the description of her brother, he should have deflected at this point rather than getting hung up on the issue but it did pique his interest.

"Curious how our paths crossed then, I cannot imagine there are a vast amount of crimson-haired Alastairs out there. One might even go as far as to call it fate, though I can say with no small amount of confidence that I do not often get called a 'punk'."

He mulled over the concept for a moment, imagining himself in a particularly garish outfit with the sides of his head saved to give him a mohawk, before beginning to imagine what this second Alastair looked like by merging that image with Sophie.

"Is he with the Vandenreich as well? Or did he not take to the Quincy lifestyle as you did?"

"I don't think so, I don't particularly believe in fate or destiny. It's too restrictive to believe that everything is already laid out before me."

She was very much the kind of person that preferred to visualise herself as the master of her own fate. Actions had consequences but those actions nor consequences were predetermined to happen but rather they were mistakes made by her.

"No, my brother was made a substitute shinigami when he was younger and I assume caught up with the Gotei. I haven't seen him since he left."

There were two very different routes they took, she didn't particularly think about it a lot. She didn't even know if her brother was alive or not, he might've got himself killed again by being a stupid idiot or get heated at the wrong individual. Sophie had a habit of keeping her hothead at a low burn but her brother always had a bad habit of speaking his mind and getting some ire.

Usually from the younger Sophie.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"How pragmatic of you. I certainly do not think that every facet of my life has been planned out in some grand celestial stratagem, but sometimes I am just thankful for a series of happy coincidences."

He took another sip, taking a moment afterwards to cast his gaze skyward. Fated or not, he would have to work out what came next on his own. There was never a map to navigating life, and he shared her sentiments regarding control and consequences. His expression softened as she spoke of her brother though, it was a shame that they were so distant even if they were so different.

"A Shinigami? Between your brother and yourself, you already have quite a diverse portfolio. As for me, I have two older sisters back in Germany: Bernadette and Hannah. I suppose they possess the blood to be Quincy, but that was the path that I chose so that they did not have to."

It had been a while since he had thought of his own family, truth be told. They lived a different life to him now, and hopefully an easier one because of his actions and the outcome of WW4, but it still gave him that distant pang of homesickness. Perhaps he would take a vacation after this Jefferson operation, pay a visit to the old estate.

"Mmm, though those coincidences are results of your own actions. Right?"

A sip of her drink and she tried to focus on the knowledge of two older sisters. Well, that did make him an opposite of her situation. Two older brothers but unlike him she had no responsibilities and always be met with that she was a girl and shouldn't try and do all the hard things.

"Humans are the most malleable of people I suppose, we grow and adapt easily. Did they not want to pursue the pathway of a Quincy or was that just a matter of only one inheritor?"

How peculiar that the youngest one would end up being the one to be the heir to the family, if she was reading it correctly. Sophie just sipped away to ponder it while looking thoughtfully into the bright liquid.