To The Future!

Time to meet her friend. Hannah had sent an invitation to Frejya to come out on a day out with her. Hannah wasn't sure what they were going to do once they had gone out. Or what was going to happen. She wanted to avoid anything that might be awkward or misconstrued, so she simply hadn't planned and decided to wing it based on Frejya's interests.

This could go very badly indeed if Frejya didn't have any interests, but still. Maybe they could just go to a humanitarian camp and help out the people displaced by either World War 4 or the smaller, constant conflicts going on on the planet.

To be certain, Freyja was still growing accustomed to the idea of choosing to fill her days with anything other than carrying out missions and maintaining a watchful eye over the City Of Lights. Even so, to a degree, she was fond of the idea of embracing the unknown path. For one who commonly lived her life by the book, it was a pleasant idea to ruminate on. She wondered where the path would lead and what awaited her on this uncertain path. Freyja would meet her in the City of Lights, somewhere on the outskirts by a grassy plain with a river to gaze on when one needed a moment of respite. Bowing politely before Hannah, a warm smile would line Freyja's lips.

"A pleasure to see you again, Hannah. How has life treated you since we last met?"

"It was only a week or so ago. My life is not so active as to have a wild change of treatment in that time" Hannah replied, giving a grin. It was nice that Freyja had appeared at all, the possibility of her just going 'na' was certainly one that Hannah did not dismiss out of hand.

"So, is there anywhere you wish to go? I can not do much transport-wise, but I can pay for the day out, so there is that" Hannah exclaimed. It would be fun to be able to use Spatial Kido to get around the place, but that was a domain above even her.

Freyja ruminated on where they ought to go next. It was difficult to come to an immediate decision. The Sternritter coordinator only possessed a base knowledge of what constituted a good day in her eyes when she allowed herself a moment of respite. A soft nod would seem to indicate the woman had come to a decision as she gazed at the blind woman. Perhaps there day would be one wherein they enjoyed what the city had to offer. A festival of some sort? Share a meal? Observe beautiful scenery? The possibilities were endless.

"With it being the spring season, perhaps we could entertain ourselves with a festival. Observe some scenery and enjoy a meal together. I don't have any particularly venturous ideas at the moment outside of those."

Well, that was quite the suggestion. Hannah hadn't been to a festival in...well, ever, actually. She wasn't a festival kind of girl. But then, she wasn't a having friends kind of girl either, so it kind of balanced out.

"Well, that is particularly venturous of itself, so I like it. We shall go to see a festival. I don't really...know any of them right now, so I will have to ask for your guidance, Frejya" Hannah would state, holding out her hand to be taken.

Freyja would tilt her head ever so slightly before understanding that the woman was blind and thus likely needed direction since she was unfamiliar with the city. She would step before the woman, take a hold of her hand and begin walking forward. They could enjoy their stride towards the festival and host a conversation but then, idle conversation was interesting. There hadn't been much to speak of on her end outside of the people she had met so far since her own time here.

"Ahem... so how have you enjoyed the City of Lights? Anyone of particular interest? Have you met any other members of the Vandenreich?"

Taking Frejya's hand and being guided, she pondered on how to respond to the question she was posed. The Vandenreich had so far been quite the poor showing, and she wondered if she should announce that fully. Eventually, she decided it didn't help her or Frejya to lie or obscure, so she told the truth.

"There is you, of particular interest. But, I have met others, yes. Liltotto twice, Vivyan once, Helle once, and Natasha once. You are...a very self-destructive people, aren't you?" she asked, with a frown.

"Every meeting with a Quincy, has showcased the abuse of their own mental or physical wellbeing, often-times in a way that can be easily remedied"

Freyja remained silent as she curiously listened to the woman passing judgment on her peers. An indifferent frown would mar her expression as she assumed a state of meditative thought. Her blindness was a significant boon to the both of them as there was a markedly visible sign of disdain in Freyja's gaze as she ruminated on an answer. To some degree, the idea of having a Shinigami call any of her peers out, let alone her entire race, was confounding, as if a prideful part of the Sternritter coordinator felt that the blind woman ought not speak on a subject such as that, even if she was speaking from a position of concern. Perhaps it was irrational to feel any form of irritation but the mentioning Helle and Natasha, two women being fellows member of the Sternritter Divison, made it all the more maddening, yet she remained calm as she paused during the stride, her hand now returning to her person.

"What impressions of my peers has led to the belief that we are self-destructive, Hannah? Know that I respect honesty here but I will refrain from offering my own opinion in this matter out of respect towards them. With that being said, you are free to elaborate and I will listen with respect befitting our... friendship."

The silence and retracting of the hand was worrying. Had she been too open? Pulling her sonar closer to get facial features, she could feel Freyja was not happy. And yet, she was clearly too far in to just retract the words, that would lead her to simply have a gulf between them that would never heal until lanced like a boil.

"Starting with yourself; while you have at least some wherewithal to take care of your physical well-being, the wild pursuit of work over everything does nothing for your mental and emotional well-being. While I know nothing of the reasons why you or indeed anyone who I have met does what they do, it is still first impressions.

Helle does the same, to a much more crippling degree. She let herself grow so sedentary her energy was stagnating and causing actual physical pain. And she still did nothing to solve it. So I showed her how to fix that, taught her how to prevent it from happening again, and then heard nothing back from her since then.

Vivyan does something different. She produces these knives as her Quincy power that are so cold they burn her hands. Instead of thinking of some way to fire them without touching them, she just throws them, hoping that she'll get good enough they stop burning her hands. So I taught her how best to project the knives so they don't burn her hands, and also how to cycle energy through herself so it is easier to project and produce. And then heard nothing back from her since then"

Hannah was getting definitely riled, not only in voice but in a sharp tremor to her spiritual pressure.

"And Natasha, I met at the beach. I was having fun messing with people there, using my Kaido to win drinking contests, when she comes over. Downs an entire bottle of Bourbon and then sits down to the contest. With a showcase like that I think this is going to take far too long, so I take the alcohol out of her bloodstream and offer her a drink. She takes it, and then downs a second bottle! I know we are biologically resilient, but that's just ffffffff-god damn extraneous! And then! She goes 'ohh, hey, can you put my alcoholism back?!' What the actual loving fuck?!! Why would you ask someone that?! Why do you hate yourself so much?!"

Listening to Hannah ramble on, Freyja wondered if this was what it felt like to experience female friendship. Even in her own brief moments of respite, spending time with female soldat whose orders were to supervise her, the valkyrie would commonly experience a rant of a similar nature as they expressed their issues.

To be certain, every uttered sentence was, as Freyja promised, considered and dwelled upon with respectable contemplation. There were only two names that were familiar to her, considering Freyja had met both of them in person. Helle and Natasha. Helle was her director and a woman she met in person.

Someone she swore to protect even at the cost of her life. Natasha was a fellow coordinator and a direct peer she had crossed paths with every now and then in the workforce. They had never spent any personal time together but then, what Natasha's sense of adventure and fun far outclassed her own. She was the heralded life of the party, a woman whose charisma could fill up a room within an instant. Even her odd accent was charming in it's own right.

The sharp tremor in her spiritual pressure, a clear sign of distress, fully displayed the woman's exasperation at it all, though the expletives at the end would've illustrated her frustration just as well. Freyja was unfamiliar with what it meant to consume alcohol actively. A cup of wine was as far as she traveled on the seemingly endless scale of alcoholic beverages. Indeed, she was as her fellow coordinator spoke of in jest, considered a lightweight by society's standards.

Gazing at Hannah, she hadn't imagined her to be a woman who would frequent a bar, let alone employ tactics of affecting one's alcohol tolerance or challenging others to drinking contest. Freyja softly rubbed her temples as she thought of a way with which to reply, torn between two sides of the pendulum. On the right side of the spectrum, Freyja felt Hannah had crossed a line by purposely removing the woman's alcohol tolerance to begin with, that she held no right in deciding whether or not the act of alcohol consumption was considered a form of self-destruction. On the left side, if Freyja were to offer her own opinion, she would certainly suggest there were other drinks one could enjoy without the inclusion of alcoholic content.

The Sternritter coordinator would simply move her hand forward, gently wrapping her hand around the woman's wrist before guiding her along to their destination. An act of this nature was clearly the graceful quincy's bid to settle the woman's mood. Though she was agitated, the elaboration seemed to help offer some form of insight to ruminate over. Even so, she had to address a few things before they'd continue onwards to the festival.

"Worry not, Hannah. I have been making a concerted effort to expand my horizons and ease my stringent approach towards my duties. Am I not displaying a desire to do so today? Vivyan's case strikes me as one of a fledging member struggling to find her place and work on her skill. It is something easily correctable, and if I am ever to cross paths with her, I will offer the proper resources to help lead her onto the proper path. I do not find that to be self-destructive."

Freyja would pause for a moment before continuing her level-headed response, each word spoken with a level of composure beyond her years.

"Helle is my director and I am thankful this knowledge has been brought to my attention. Know that I intend to ease any and all pressure on her shoulders, that I will ease any burden that befalls her. After all, it is my duty to protect her. Of course, concerning the southern coordinator... Honesty compels me to say that you have no right to speak on Natasha's alcoholism and whether the act of such consumption is, as you say, self-destructive or spiteful towards oneself. There was a clear crossing of the line to remove her level of tolerance to begin with, thereby rendering the honor of a contest in and of itself, even in something as eccentric as outdrinking the other, null and void. Even if I overlook that, I am in no position to judge her, for that is her own cross to bear. As one who has only ever consumed simple glasses of wine, I cannot offer my opinion on the weight of her decision but it is, by every measure of the word, her choice. "

A mouthful, to be sure, but Freyja knew no other option than to speak from a place of composure.