Cherished Threads [Santa, V]

[ForgottenMercyVeteran Member]

A sigh escaped Santa as she slipped back to the world of the living, sweating just a little as she looked over her shoulder and closed her eyes. Good, Leo was still safe. Naturally, she was iffy about separating from him, but it was a necessary thing. She still needed to check on some people. She glanced over to her other selves. Splinters of the garden all dedicated to ensuring that her friends were okay. Leo was safe with a piece of her. Still, she had to see who else she could reach out to. Pulling out her phone, she scrolled through her contacts, promptly sending V a short message, asking where a good place to meet would be. She had, naturally, not quite kept in costant contact with V. usually she sent her pictures of places she visited, be that in the human world or hueco mundo whenever she found something interesting. Usually those cute little mini hollows.

But now, she just wanted to speak with her. Though she had to admit, when she got a prompt little ping she was caught off guard. OH! She must have caught V between work!

A relived szmile formed on her face and she glanced at the message. Not too long... excellent.


A short while later, after her and her fragmented garden pieces headed to Liltotto's to get proper clothing, Santa showed up at the spot that V had set out for them. Truth be told, she had less to worry about with V. True the woman did hunt hollows, which ... was dangerous. But she also didn't quite get into trouble. But all the same she couldn't help but wonder if V had even heard about what happened in soul society. No less the vandenreich announcement. She herself wasn't sure what to think of it. Alastair offering a hoime to all the unemployed shinigami. She wasn't sure how that would go. But those were thoughts for later.

For now, she waited patiently for her friend.

[The CatExperienced Member]

All That and More

It had been a while since V had really been around Santa. Months, almost a year? V had no concept of time anymore. Between not getting full nights of sleep in a long ass time and the constant work she put into maintaining her image, job, and social standing, it was a neverending cycle of work she rarely got to escape from. Today was one of those rare exceptions.

The bunny had gotten real sleep and didn't have anything going on today, and look at that, a text from Santa. How weirdly convenient. She'd have to tease the girl for that later. For now, she texted her friend back and told her to meet up somewhere in the City of Lights. Specifically right outside of a steakhouse, like the one she initially wanted to bring Santa to before they got side tracked by fast food. This was a kind of a way to get back at the woman she'd kept up with briefly here and there and also a way to find an excuse to eat way more than she needed to.

The bunny stood outside the bustling restaurant that, since it was the middle of the day, wasn't so busy they needed a reservation. Ears perked up, hands in her pocket, posture a little casual instead of perfectly straight while her eyes scanned the nearby area for the familiar blonde ditz she was waiting for. Upon seeing the girl, V would smirk, wave a hand and call in a loud, boisterous voice over the bustle of all these people, "Ay, yo! Santa!" no doubt loud enough to catch a few stares, but V didn't care. As long as she could be heard.

[ForgottenMercyVeteran Member]

Regardless of the situation, Santa couldn't help but perk up and show a big happy smile as V tracked her down. "Ah, Hello V!" she responded with that warm grin of hers, promptly making her way over and barely keeping herself from just scooping the woman up into a bear hug. Thankfully she had done a lot better in terms of keeping herself in check. Goodness it had really been a while!

"How have you been? Oh its been a heck of a long time! I'm sorry I didn't come to check up on you sooner, it's... been a long year." She noted with a sheepish smile, as her mind... raced through everything that had happened since she'd last run into V. Oh boy had it been a lot...Oh! She perked up and turned her attention to the place they had wound up. the smell of food catching her attention. She had certainly learned a lot about human dining practices since then. "Oh! Have you had anything to eat yet today?" She asked brightly. At least for just a moment, forgetting all the .... stuff that was going on around the situation.

[The CatExperienced Member]

All That and More

"I've been fine, and yeah it's been a long ass time, huh?" V agreed as she got an arm around Santa's shoulder and walked straight into the steakhouse joint they were standing outside of. Right past the line and straight inside. The bustle was loud and obnoxious to V's sensitive bunny ears no matter what, but that was why she got them in one of the back rooms with a private waiter. Their reservations were already set, expensive as they were.

"No, but that's why we're here, dummy." V playfully elbowing Santa as she took a seat across from the arrancar, motioning for Santa to sit down. There was a glass of water already there, silverware off to the side, and a menu for Santa. V had her own but she already knew what she was going to get. Santa would have time to read before their waiter came back anyways.

"So how've you been? Haven't died out there in Hueco Mundo or whatever. Must be doing at least alright." V wondered, head propped up on an arm as she looked across the table to examine the friend she hadn't actually seen in person for quite some time now.

[ForgottenMercyVeteran Member]

Oh! Santa's eyes widened a little and there was the faintest tint of pink added to her features as V's arm slipping around her shoulder caught her by surprise, causing a happy little hum to escape her throat a she promptly gave V's shoulder a little squeeze in return. That restraint fading just a tiny bit, as always soaking up just about any mote of physical affection she could. It wasn't the hug she wanted but it was still nice! Still, she kept herself from scooping the woman up into a hug, instead just enjoying the little half-hug. Though her second bout of surprise came as they walked straight past the line. "Oh uhm, don't we..." she paused, clearly not used to just walking past that sort of thing. Even MORE she was startled as they wound up in a small, quiet private room. Just how much had V put into planning this?!

Santa smiled at the little elbowing and nodded as she sat down across from V, perking up as she looked over the menu briefly, taking a sip of water before her attention shifted right back to her friend. [color=goldenrod]"It's been ... an interesting year to say the least. A lot has happened, a ew scares certainly. And people kindof going in and out of contact."[color=goldenrod]led, rubbing the back of her head. "I actually even went on my first date! But it wasn't really what I was expecting. I'm still getting used to things here in the world of the living." she conceded, looking up to Vi and giving a relieved smile. "What with everything that happened in africa and now... the news about what happened to the soul reapers, I was honestly a little worried. So I decided to text. I'm really glad you're okay." She noted softly, before she paused and then tilted her head for a few seconds.

"Actually, what about yourself? You work with cameras and stuff right? Has everything been alright with your work?" She ventured with a sympathetic tilt of her head, looking the woman up and down as if to make note of any clues.

[The CatExperienced Member]

All That and More

V took a sip of her water almost in time to spit it out when she heard that Santa went on her first date sometime soon. "What do you mean? When? How was it?" V immediately began to pester in between coughing up the water she had reflexively sent down the wrong pipe.

By the time she had it sorted out and was done making a fool of herself, Santa was mentioning something about Africa. "Yeah I heard about that one, but... I mean yeah I'm fine, why wouldn't I be? What about the soul reapers now? Is there something I need to be paying more attention to?" The bunny wondered in obvious confusion. It was clear she had no clue about the dissolving of the Gotei at all, or what that meant in the long run for things. And as for the mention of her work, V just waved it off with a shrug. "Work is work. People take photos of me in lingerie, I make a few hundred thousand per shoot, I go on TV, I make another few hundred thousand. It's whatever."

[ForgottenMercyVeteran Member]

”Oh! Careful!” She blurtd out as V almost choked on her drink. W-was that really that much of a surprise? She smiled sheepishly and cleared her throat as she slid a napkin across the table to V.

”Its been a few months now? Uhm… earlier in the year when it was still cold. I met someone at the pet store. A woman named Helle. She works for the Vandenreich. Ahem, well anyway I thought she was really nice and I thought itd be fun.” She smiled nervously and looked off to the side in embarrassment.

”It was nice but it wasn’t exactly very… datey. We sortof just … became good friends. I’m still figuring out the whole dating thing.” She sighed, a few…memories blotting her mind. But she pushed those aside. Much as she wanted to feel that way again, humans were.. complicated.

However V’s response to the situation made her blink in surprise. ”V… the soul reapers are gone. I mean well… not… GONE. But the gotei dissolved. As for africa it was handled. But well. Arrancar and hollows launched an attack on the soul society. I … don’t really know the full situation. But the Vandenreich made an anouncement. They’re trying to give jobs to the shinigami stranded on earth and to keep things safe. They even changed their name.” She noted softly. She still hadn’t memorized the name. But still she tried to explain the situation to V as best she could. ”Still, I’m glad youe alright. You have a strong smelling soul, and well. With how bold hollows have been, I was just a but worried.”

[The CatExperienced Member]

All That and More

V was a little disappointed when she heard that Santa hadn't been on a 'date' date, just one with another chick that was like, a girl's night out or something. At least, that's what made the most sense in the bunny's mind from the way that Santa put it. "Still, making new friends is always good." V said with a sigh, even if she was a little sad for her friend. Santa would get it later. Probably.

But then the mention of no more soul reapers hit her and the bunny froze for a second as she tried to process that information. "Ah... Run that by me again?" V said with a furrowed brow. "If those are gone, isn't that like... super bad? Like, really really bad?"

V didn't really know about the soul cycle, she just knew it existed, and she didn't exactly know about the whole Shinigami thing or what Quincies were or that conflict or anything. She was just a normal human. Even if they taught that thing in school, V didn't go to school. But even still she knew just enough to be disturbed by everything she just heard. Africa she knew, but like a prey that had lost its natural predators, wouldn't that then mean Hollows were going to become more common?

"Strong smelling, huh...? Whatever that means." V huffed with a shake of her head. "I'll be fine on my own and I doubt anything's going to happen immediately, otherwise it already would have, I think. But like..." V didn't really know but now she was staring off at the table while she worked things out in her head. Bunny didn't like to think but she had to sometimes. Like right now. Possible courses of action, preparations... ah but Santa hadn't said anything yet. Maybe it wasn't actually that bad?

[ForgottenMercyVeteran Member]

Santa smiled at that and chuckled a bit as she noticed how disappointed V looked. ”I guess I should have expected it. Sure I hoped it would.. you know. Lead somewhere. It was sortof her idea. And its not like she said no when I asked. I guess I just don’t really know any human moves. Hollows are kinda.. direct.” she trailed off. Thankful that the subject changed.

”Yes. I plan in heading to souls society myself toget more information. I just… wanted to make sure everyone I knew was okay.” she noted softly. Technically a part of her was already there. But well V didnt know about that ability of hers.

”Hollow can smell the energy that is inside of a living thing. Humans dont usually have much spiritual pressure but hollows can smell it, like… letting them jnow what the best meal would be. Those with strong attractive scents will tend to attract hollows strong enough to deal with them, and can scare away weaker hollows.” She explained.”I know youre confident but… still please be careful. Hollows are bound to be more bold and aggressive thanks to all this.” She noted with a worried frown, reaching across the table and very lightly grasping Vs hand to try and get her attention as she stared off.

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