A Midnight Stroll

Kristof walked through the forest, sifting between the trees. He was always relatively thin all things considered, so getting through this forest was nowhere near difficult. The hard part was making sure he didn't step on any moss or into any puddles so he didn't ruin his clothing. His usual sandals were exchanged for combat boots like a fucking peasant. They were surprisingly comfortable though, and he recalled the words of the merchant that they had to be made for marchin' or there was no point to them. So Kristof strode through the forest of Aokigahara on this fine Spring night, his only source of light the cigarette in his mouth and the full moon far above him.

He crunched a piece of branch below his feat with a particularly loud and satisfying sound, and it reminded him of that time he  broke a Hollow's skull in the same manner. His hands were in the pockets of his loose black robe trousers with a belt which was also black in color and blended in. Above that was a loose-fitting white tanktop dressed by a Shinigami's Haori. For Kristof, it was a family heirloom; to everyone else, it was a sign. It was refitted to have long sleeves, and the number at the center of the back had faded over time and into obscurity. Family legend has it being somewhere between 1 and 8, which is a fat lot of a good considering there were only 8 fucking divisions in total. Most Quincy were well aware of that knowledge, or at least the Echt Quincy were.

Kristof smashed his cigarette into a nearby tree, splattering its ignited ashes into hundreds of tiny particles that fell to the ground, most losing their ignited status before touching anything else. The cigarette, effectively put out, was thusly flicked into the forest wilderness, and Kristof pulled out his pack from an inside pocket of the haori and pulled out another cigarette before putting the pack back and producing his golden lighter, flicking it on and lighting the cigarette. With it lit, he extinguished the flame, put the lighter back away, and returned to wandering through the forest, looking for Ika Mazi's base.

Supposedly, it was somewhere around here. It was in the forest, at least to his understanding. Frankly he didn't know for sure, and didn't know what he'd encounter, but he kept his Blut Vene at the ready and his senses open as he walked around, ready for anything just in case since it was late at night and rather dark out.

His companion, who had been with him the entire time following him, stepped on a twig and snapped it, causing Kristof to jolt and spin around, taking a defensive posture with an intimidated look on his face. After a brief moment, he sighed, realizing that it was just Mia Baonaru, who had been with him the entire time, who he had genuinely forgotten about.

"Jesus fucking Christ, Mia, I forgot you were even with me." He laughed slightly, sighing softly before shrugging. "I've gotten us a fat fuck of nowhere. Your turn to lead I guess?"

Mia was clad in white, and she almost wished her hair could match, but it was the same apple red as always. Shame. She was with Kristof because they were trying to find some kind of hidden base for...reasons? She wasn't entirely sure why she was here, she'd much rather be literally anywhere else besides a spooky old forest in the middle of nowhere known for being full of spirits and deaths and hauntings. So far he had found nothing, not even a trace or trail of other people coming or going. She didn't either, but she didn't know what to look for anyways so she doubted she could help much.

Kirstof finally noticed Mia was still following him and it was only because she stepped on a twig at random? She was a quiet person sure, but the fact he actively lost track of her being nearby was sad. Either way he made a comment about it and then asked if she should lead them around for a bit. Having just as little of an idea of what they were looking for and where it could even be in this big dumb forest.....

She did the next best thing any city girl would think to do in this situation.

She fired a friggin laser beam out of her quincy shield that she conjured up and took out a large chunk of the forest in the direction she had decided to go in. Leaving a nice clean path for them to travel down rather than her trying to cut her way through branches and vines and god only knows what else. before promptly proceeding in that direction herself.

Still no sign of a building, hopefully she didn't accidentally take a chunk of it out, but that seemed unlikely.

If questioned about why she did that she'd just shrug and keep following the new path.

Kristof wasn't sure where to go. He'd asked Mia to lead mostly so he didn't forget about her existence again. It was still fun, though, to be wandering around in a dark forest with one of his only friends; sure, they may not know where they're going, but at least they're getting to spend time togeth-

His thought was literally interrupted by Mia firing a giant laser beam which Kristof recognized as a very powerful arrow. He was always surprised by her choices, but that was definitely not on the list. Oh well, at least they didn't have to squeeze between trees for a little while.

The two of them traveled down the new path for a little while in silence, broken only by Kristof puffing on his cigarette. When it reached the filter, he dropped it and stepped on it, pulling out another and lighting it like clockwork. Questions raced through his mind, but he couldn't settle on any of them in particular to ask. He enjoyed spending time with Mia, but admittedly didn't know much about her. He knew she was explicitly quiet and very intelligent, which made getting her to open up about anything a very challenging fight.

"So, Mia, we've been always been relatively similar in power, yeah?" he took a drag off his cigarette, pulling it from his mouth as he continued, "How come training doesn't seem to do anything for me, whereas you 'train' almost every day?" He continued walking while they spoke, finding no good reasons to halt their movement for a brief conversation. He knew he wasn't going to get much of a response out of her, but he hoped it was more than a shrug.