Hit Em Right Between The Eyes [Liltotto/Lukas]

"Aight, we're almost there," Her flat tone called to her companion with another heavy step, looking back to make sure he was still there.

It was just a typical patrol with some department overlap, nothing weird to the Sternritter, but it was unusual that she was able to get Lukas for a pairing this time. The last time they had a proper conversation it wasn't the best, and with what was currently happening she had some want to reconnect, but she knew the guy was stubborn as a dog with prey in it's mouth.

She did double, no, triple check of if any Hollows were reported to have been in the area, nothing she heard sounding conclusive - their presence was a just in case, which worked out fine for her idea, which was finding common ground. Trees towered over them as they made it to a clearing, enough space to set up a camp.

"Kay, we can drop down here. M' starving anyway." Dropping her bag, she'd unzip a part of it to pull out a well wrapped freezing sandwich - one of a great many, which she unflinchingly started chewing through as she'd pull the tent out,

"I'll get it set up, be ready to go hunting... With a bit of a twist," Of the two long cases that were tethered to her bag, she'd toss one to Lukas, being surprisingly light.

Inside was a traditional bow with the fixings to operate it, grinning at him through a half smile as the tent was rolled out, "No reishi."

AMERICA
Lukas bit into a stale ration chocolate, the chalk it'd turned to in his mouth a comfort before annoyance. He'd trailed behind the Sternritter patiently, visibly more concerned with the trail before and after them. Silver eyes traced between the shadows of trees, shifting leaves with a brush of wind or danger's touch. "Yeah, I'm not getting lost."

Attention shifted to Liltotto as he spoke, another bite audible in the wilderness' stillness. "Not like there's anything to lose out here. No traces of foreign reishi, 'cept us."

Stretching as the woman made for lunch, Lukas stashed the wrapper in the duffel slung over his shoulder, zipper tightening with a scream. Tossing it aside, his free arm unslung another, smaller bag; producing a portable flame. The cylinder polished to a shine, it pushed into the dirt with ease. A lever on the side pushed to emit a geyser of flame, before the man tuned it down to a campfire.

Standing back to height, Lukas caught the parcel, annoyance visibly increasing from nothing as she'd continue on. "So, hunting what?"

Pitching the tent in a relaxed fashion - such a thing seeming to be excessive in the modern day, there were rather nice tents you could simply pop up, but she preferred to bring her own that was a little more manual with it's familiarity and comfort. Looking back to Lukas as she got the foundational portions put up, her brows were raised,

"Pretty sure we can bag a rabbit or stag or somethin'," Her lazy voice spoke nonchalantly, both bows appearing to be well cared for but definitely used with small specks of wear, "They really don't make bows like they used to, took a lot of looking around to find somebody that didn't make em all tricked out and shit."

Though, past her reminiscing, her eyes narrowed with a bit of good humor from her, "You can unclench your jaw, by the way. With all that stress stench you'll scare off everything in the woods. What's got you so on edge? There aren't any hollows to worry about, i'd know before we so much as hear any footsteps."

AMERICA
Pulling out the weapon in turn, Lukas turned it over in his hands, clinical in his stare. The last time he had held a bow... Long enough to pretend to not remember.

"Not stress." Lukas replied curtly, pointing the empty bow into the trees as he'd draw the string. Wood groaning, the quincy releasing the string with faint satisfaction. "Just don't get the point. Especially if you're wanting to hunt rabbits." Faintly swinging the bow up, the string pulled against his shoulder as it sat between arm and torso.

"Stag or boar, I can do. Could probably do it quicker and easier with my bare hands, though." He half smiled at Liltotto, teeth sharp even in their honesty. "Or is this how you meditate?"

"Scent never lies," She'd speak with a fleeting murmur, testing her gear with idle practice, as if she hardly had to think about it to ensure it was up for the task ahead.

"Sure, you could call it that," Coming to her feet, she was set and looking like a proper hunter, bow at her side, "Let's get a move on, then."

As the two would get set, she'd walk alongside Lukas, senses spread to look for scents and signs of prey, her voice lowered to a near whisper, "Don't beat the shit outta the animals with your fists, killer. We're doing this, no brutality - they aren't enemies, they're just wildlife going about."

Looking, searching, soon she'd spot distinct tracks - they weren't too old. Motioning for Lukas to follow, the two would soon be creeping up on a herd of grazing deer, varying ages and sizes; a full herd, so to speak.

"Aw, some kiddos in there,' she'd calmly point out the occasional doe with a growing fawn at their sides, several young bucks with varying sizes of antlers scattered about the clearing catching her eye, "Which one you gunning for?"

AMERICA
"Beat'em to death? The hell do you think - you snap their spine. Forearm to the back of their neck, reach around with the opposite hand, pull. Quick, instant death." Lukas whispered back, the initial befuddlement fighting against the back of his throat to be yelled out. Still he'd manage a fierce glare at the woman, harsh enough for her to recognize when aimed at the back of her skull.

Following her to the edge of the trail, he'd squat down with eyes tracing the animals. Nothing that struck out to him as particularly noteworthy; although there was a sense of peace about it all. Funny how that was - the closer Lukas came to death, the more comfortable he was.

"Mm." Lukas half mumbled a non-response, shifting against the bow that he had slung onto himself. "Can't say anything too impressive about'em."

Narrowing his eyes, the man's stare shifted deeper into the shadows underfoot, the dirt and roots that found themselves home here. Not that he was particularly great at tracking animals nowadays, any training long ago replaced with concern for tracking man. A frown crossed his face, pushing back up from his squat, slowly as to not startle the animals.

"See how the ground gets kinda... Smooth, there? Around the edge where the doe is. That looks like something bigger came through here. Unless they're heavier than they look." A finger helped to guide Liltotto's line of sight, a crest of earth peeking upward, flattened, stamped down.

A brush of irritation hit her with his sharp, incorrect reply, shooting a look at him, "Whoever told you that's a dumbass; that ain't an instant kill, brain's still intact, there's going to be a good while where it's still processing shit," Her voice was kept low as not to frighten any critters or disturb the hunt in any way, "You kill em how you kill hollows; their heart. Either run a good shot through it or down it and cut an artery on it's neck and bleed it out. Means it doesn't suffer for long."

With the two of them positioned before the herd, her eyes caught that oddity before Lukas spoke up; it was strange to behold, but there wasn't any active hollow reports or strong scents to lend the thought they were in any trouble, even the fauna seemed peaceful.

"I'll give it a look after I down one," Calmly, she pulled the bow's string taut, aiming for a mere moment before an arrow whistled through the air, the fragility of nature presenting itself as one of the older bucks went from his peaceful grazing, to crumpling to the ground - motionless. The rest of the herd barely reacted to the fall of one of their own with how quick and efficient a kill it was, the twitch of a few ears and the raise of a head or two the only noticeable reception.

"They're gonna figure out what's going on, you got a minute or two if you wanna down one," She'd give him a gentle elbowing before creeping off to investigate the oddity.

AMERICA
"Sounds like you don't use enough force." Lukas commented, voice low in response. Watching as she loosed an arrow, the quincy unshouldered his own bow, a disparaging glance at the weapon as he knocked an arrow. "Good enough of a shot, though."

His comment - sideways or otherwise - was given no room to breathe. Stepping forward as Liltotto's mark fell, Lukas drew back the bow with enough force to it to audibly begin breaking, the twang as it loosed warping into a low growl. One of the deer's heads snapped up, jumping into the air - startled enough to cause the survivors to scatter. As it attempted to follow, a flood of red poured from its side, collapsing onto the forest floor. A hole pierced through the heart, a bloodstained arrow halfway through the tree behind it.

Stepping into the clearing, Lukas laughed, tugging against the lodged arrow. "Man, that is in there." Turning back to face Liltotto, a light kick toward the buck as he spoke.

"So, that's the hunting. Got some life lesson about how I handled that, too? Or can we figure out whatever left that." His eyes flicked back to the odd-looking trail, before leaning down to pick up the deer's carcass. "After we get these two back to camp, anyways." Grunting, Lukas tossed the beast over his shoulder, a shower of blood hitting the ground. As it's antlers drug into the ground, the memory of a bodybag made its way to the forefront of the quincy's mind.

Prey's prey, no two ways about it.

It happened in a flash; as Lukas looked in the direction of the trail, a brilliant flash would blind the senses, tearing through trees and foliage as the moment went from mundane hunting to a blinding shot of energy, a flourish of spiritual pressure coming and going in what felt like an instant. A perfect hole was carved through the path Liltotto had fired that destructive flash through, as if the light itself ate away anything that touched it's brilliance.

At the end of that path would be the dark body of a hollow that was stalking through the trees, a gigantic hole in what was once it's mask, the body slipping down and hitting the floor with a lazy thud. It died so quickly it's body momentarily convulsed. The blonde herself had a cold and disinterested look, not even facing the man she had gone on this outing for.

"Thirty-one thousand eight hundred," She'd calmly state that figure, wondering if that alone meant anything to him at this point - she earnestly couldn't tell, her voice had shifted from that friendly tone to one more monotonous and cold, "That was how many lives you took from one city. Just people living, all suddenly dead by your hands."

Facing him, those plain eyes she normally bore were gone, instead digging into the young man like blades, "What compelled you to rob so many lives? What went through your mind as you did it? Do you regret it, your choice? Would you have done something different, if you could go back? Would you have stopped yourself? Or do other's lives mean so little to you that you have never looked back?"

AMERICA
Sighing loudly, Lukas stopped, the deer's carcass knocking against the back of his knee. His voice came tired, cold. "First person I killed, think I was nine years old. Some beggar my old man ripped off the streets, told to do it with my bare hands. Wouldn't go without a fight, though. Had to bite his throat out. Joined the Vandenreich at fifteen, and the job was quiet. Being honest, I liked it. Arm in arm with quincy brothers and sisters, the way I'd been promised, fuckin' PROPHESIZED, even."

Lukas' eyes met the woman's as he turned, matching her daggers with fierceness. "But quiet doesn't last, and you should know - when things get going, it's fast. Hollows on the field, arrancar trying to be people. Saw some people, some friends, die. Knew it was a possibility, been taught that it was a possibility, been taught to brace for that eventuality. We failed that mission because I hesitated to kill the target."

Pulling the deer's leg further up as it started to slip, he continued without pause. "So, we set up shop at the location. See what we can salvage for the op. A few days in, I get a relay from my handlers. Ma and da, both dead. Murder-suicide, I found out later. But, still had a mission to do. The other operatives trailed a known associate, ended up missing, presumed dead. Hollows and shinigami had bathed in Quincy blood, but humans? They're the same, and it took that happening for me to see it."

The sharpness in his eyes grew, words hardening in tone. "I spent five years in solitary confinement, Liltotto. 'If I could go back' got boring after the first week. Of course I would. I wouldn't hesitate, I wouldn't miss."

Turning back towards the camp, he stepped forward. Lukas' words trailed behind him, anger simmering underneath them. "What you don't get, ancient as you are, is that doesn't change shit. If I hadn't killed that town, do you know how many more they would've had me kill? How many lives I'd take during that war?"