Do You Got The Stomach For It? [Lukas/Liltotto]

THE CITY OF LIGHT
The reeking smell of it made him sick. A vicious cycle, spewing green bile only to be driven forward to vomit again. Lukas couldn't help it, exhausted as he was.

Surrounding him was a small yard, fenced in the back of his 'quaint' apartment complex. Barely big enough for him to work with, but he needed the solitude for now. Too many concerned faces the past few days, too much sympathy for a loser. If only he had to deal with that sickness in his stomach, he might've been without such distress, but life was so rarely that kind.

"Fuck." the man muttered, wiping at his mouth with the back of a hand. Lukas' tongue probed the back of his teeth, acidity burning with disgust. Across from him, a barely held together target dummy wobbled in the still air, hard eyes staring at each incision with anger. The fading blade on his wrist shattered into the air, his grip of reishi slipping apart like grains of sand.

"Pushing myself too hard." the realization was stated plainly, unannoyed. Tired.

Entering the apartment, the man slipped on a shirt, the fingers underneath his sanrei still tingling, almost numb. The painkillers were doing their work, it seemed.

As the shirt came slipping down extended arms, the flash of his bruise in a mirror caused Lukas to wince; faint yellows swimming amongst the sickly purple. A bottle ended up in his hands as he swung the fridge door close behind him, the cap flying off with an enunciated ting. Before it made it to his lips, his front door erupted with noise;

knock knock knock.

The bottle lowered as his lips tightened, a definite frown. "Who is it?" he half yelled, walking to the door.

One could say that Liltotto was on a mission, but she certainly wouldn't call it such. She was intent on seeing the status of everyone if she could, one by one, and offer any support that she could muster. Bad times led to unraveling in the worst of circumstances, and even a ratty little criminal boy didn't deserve to fall by the wayside. He had performed well in the attack, but even with her limited knowledge of Lukas did she know that he probably wasn't doing terribly well in the aftermath.

"Liltotto Lamperd. Sternritter. Here to talk to ya." She'd yell back. Least he didn't throw something at the door or whatever; Not like she couldn't take a hit but she'd rather not have objects lobbed at her by a delinquent today. Once he answered the door, she'd get a good look at him - yep, rough shape, especially with a strong scent of alcohol.

"Y'just gonna drink all day in that drab place?" She'd ask, looking somewhat behind him, "How bout we go for a walk and get you some fresh air?"

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Liltotto. The name was unfamiliar, not that Lukas had the mind to keep track of any of the Sternritter. He had a certain respect for their ranking, even if he did find them often... Up-their-own-ass-ish. Despite the despairingly large chip on his shoulder, he'd open the door fully, a blank stare addressing the woman.

"'Talk' to me? For what?" Of course he knew, but - Not going back to prison. A faint whistle from the side of his mouth, a recognition of his own paranoia.

"Better come in, whatever it is." He'd turn away from the door, beckoning the woman to follow as he closed the door behind her. A light switch flipped up, a series of long bulbs in his ceiling noisily waking. One or two didn't work, but the light was still near blinding for Lukas, squinting as he waved with his bottle for her to sit down, although her pickings were slim. A poorly maintained couch huddled against a wall, with a similarly shitty armchair closer to the kitchenette.

"We can take a walk when I'm a bit less nauseous." The man commented, taking a long drink. Dropping lazily onto the couch, air escaped his nostrils as beer lapped the bottom of the bottle, rotating between his fingers. "I'd offer you a drink too, but I'm pretty sure this is my last one."

A noticeable cringe would form on her face as soon as the door opened. Wow, wow the place smelled - alcohol and other unpleasant, dusty or moldy smells. Was dark as hell inside, too - god, and she thought she was a mess before.

“Uh, no thanks. I’ll stand at the door.” Even if it wouldn’t actually happen, she swore she’d get knocked the fuck out if she got any closer to… Anything making smells in there. Her eyes gravitated to the near empty beer bottle, sighing softly, “If you’re gonna day drink at least have some food and water on hand, man… Anyway, was here to check up on ya after the whole, y'know… Arrancar thing.”

THE CITY OF LIGHT
What did I expect from a sternritter? Side eyeing the woman as he sank into his chair, he responded to her apprehension with a shrug, the door hanging open.

"Your loss." Lukas half muttered, swigging back more of the life-saving alcohol. God, he felt ragged - a swivel of his head as he continued to address her catching a whiff of his own b o. Okay, maybe it's not all snooty.

"Trust me, anything else right now would just come right back up." the man bemoaned in self pity, free hand massaging the back of his neck. "Pushing myself or whatever." His eyes met with hers as silence held for a moment, a short moment of disbelief flashing behind the silver.

"Arrancar? Yeah, sure, I'm fine. Bruised up but not much else I didn't do to myself." he paused, the words caught behind some mild concern. "Arrancar, though. That's a funny way of putting it. D'you not know who that was?" Lukas had spent much of his life demeaning and belittling, but the words came out honest as they could've, dripping with curiosity.

"I mean, I didn't really know either, not until later." Draining the last of his bottle, he haphazardly threw it towards a trash can, landing with a decisive clatter. "Some big name jackass from before my time, turns out. Ichigo, or something."

Her fist tightened with his questioning of if she knew who it was, suddenly punching into the side of the door frame in interruption of the young man, her expression dark and tone low yet intensive, "I don't give a fucking rat's ass who it was. My only concerns are what it is, and how tough it is to deal with."

Guilt and anger had salted the reopened wounds of her heart, quickly regaining composure and pushing the pain aside to speak to him, "Look. If it ever comes back, we gotta be ready. We gotta be better than ever before. What're you planning to do to shape up once you're healed?"

He may not be a Sternritter, but he was still a part of the Vandenreich. It may not have been her place, but she wanted to go about and see what everyone was up to, what they intended on doing, to see how their spirits were faring, because they were in fact faced with a hellish scenario. She didn't want this place to die out, too.

THE CITY OF LIGHT
Sinking into his seat, Lukas would remain mostly unbothered by Litlotto's sudden outburst, a scowl mixing with mild concern. "I'm the only one who did any lasting damage. So be more careful before you break the door frame." The man scolded, his sanrei bound arm stretching towards the ceiling. The absence of reishi's sting hurt, a feeling he now longed for.

"Note sure you'd call it an injury, but my power will probably take a month to come back in force. But I'm working on it." Dropping the arm back down, his gaze would flick from fingertips to the figure in his doorframe, a cold shift in his eyes. "Have an idea or two to speed up the process. As for how tough the bastard is, we're fucked."

His tone having soured, the man's hand tightened in frustration. "I basically fried myself just to leave some minor damage. Something I've used to wipe cities off the map, and he just... Kept going." As his voice fell flat, Lukas sighed, gesturing loosely to her. "So what do you suggest we do about it?"

Any semblance of an upset tone seemed to completely vanish in reaction to the man's words, narrowing her eyes and dropping her hand from the frame, "My strengths are in a few areas, breaking shit with my bare hands definitely isn't one of them."

Crossing her arms at his less-than-optimistic words, she felt an ebb of uselessness bubble up, before she quashed the sensation in it's tracks - she'd save that for when she's moping to herself, not talking to another who's in poor shape.

"We come back better than before," She'd reply, "Simple idea, hard as fuck to execute. If we can't even nick off a Hollow, what's stopping the Gotei from wiping us clean if they think we're too much of a bother to keep alive? Ichi-whatever's the least of our concerns here. We gotta play hard catch up if we're gonna survive, and from all my years knowing, Quincy are stupid good at surviving. Fact that you and the others are still alive is proof enough of that - even if you aren't the most powerful, you are the most stubborn things."

Her eyes would gravitate to the glove, sighing softly, "Letz Stille recovery can be a bitch. Take it slow. If you bust your ass too hard you'll burn yourself down into a crippled mess or an early grave. Seen it too much. Take care of yourself if you wanna kick his ass."

THE CITY OF LIGHT
"Yeah yeah, great advice." the sardonic tone apparent as he'd shift in his seat, Lukas' arms pulling back to cross his chest. "You and everyone parroting it love to avoid the hard choices to make it happen, though." His gaze locking to the woman's as he spoke, almost spitting venom from the words. Bile still stained his breath, a spark of real anger holding in his eyes.

"Taking it slow isn't an option. We can worry about health once we're not worried about dying, and if that thing shows up again that's what'll happen. But I show up with a solution for that and it gets turned down in favor of walking around with a thumb up our collective ass. We don't have the time, and we don't have the firepower - and no one's taking the steps we need for either but me." Flame pooled in his chest with each passing word, growing steadily into the blaze of a rant.

"Piddle along with some kiddie pool shit if you want, I'm going to find a way beyond this shit or die trying." Standing up, Lukas could feel the weakness in his legs, the fatigue across every inch of his body. Still anger swelled, keeping the man propped up against his flesh's complaint. "Take that to whoever else you're visiting - tell them to fucking work their ass off. 'Cuz they aren't listening to me."

Silence was present at the doorway as Lukas threw venom at her attempt to lift his spirits was thoroughly spat back in her face. Her chest burned with a poisonous feeling herself, despite her rather apathetic expression as the young man's rant snapped into a burn, watching him with a calm expression as he spat his ire to her. Passive hands curled into tight fists at her sides, standing upright as opposed to slouching on the door.

Suddenly the room didn't smell as bad anymore.

Not a single spell of silence was allowed to fall between the two, Liltotto having walked into the room, closing the door firmly behind her as she did so in a single smooth movement, firm footsteps approaching Lukas not long after his sentence finished, her darkened eyes staring sharp daggers into him,

"Sit." Her voice was full with insistence as her spiritual pressure, something she often took such care to suppress for the benefit and safety of those around her, was allowed to momentarily press on Lukas. Ordinarily she wouldn't have done something so rash to an injured comrade, but he was in for a humbling reminder.

"I've grown up with guys just like you. Fought with guys just like you. Buried guys just like you, with my bare hands," Her voice was low and quiet, but held all the gravity and anger of a furious yell as she spoke closely to his face, "Because they were so goddamn convinced that if they burned away every inch of their lives, crushed every atom of their selves, that they could become some unstoppable being to fulfill a greatest purpose. Do you know where that got them, where that will get you? Worm shit, four-to-six feet underground, any evidence of you just a number on a spreadsheet that accomplished nothing in the end."

She'd lean up, though she did not stand up straight, she'd keep level with his gaze, "Everyone's feeling like shit about what happened, everyone is trying to figure a way forward. But destroying ourselves to find that way is not how we're getting anywhere. You wanna do good by the Vandenreich? Then live, Lukas. Don't survive like a stupid, anxiety-riddled animal. Live. Live, to lead a better life for everybody in the city. Live a life that you want to protect with all you fucking got."