Long Road Behind You [Bauher, Lilith]

Bauher raised a brow at that and chuckled softly. "Is that right?" He certainly made a mental note. Not the competitive type apparently, and she did catch that tone earlier. Hm. All the same, he found himself on the sidelines as the game wound up finishing up. And well, it seemed that that lax notion of caring who won wound up not being quite so applicable after all. Seemed they had some money riding on things. He was quite familiar with that sort, certainly a lot of his friends like to hedge wagers on sports and the like, never quite his scene.

Still, as Lilith returned, he cracked a lopsided smile as she promptly got to the heart of her interest. His powers, as it were. Which was pretty reasonable. "Well you know, you pick up a few things on the road. You could say I'm an evolved recluse. First
I thought I was crazy when I learned that I could talk to an inanimate object and it'd listen."' He hummed as he watched her through sleepy hooded eyes, that calm smile of his having more or less beena round ever since he'd first approached her. For all of his playful and jjoking remarks, he really did have an essence of a creature at rest.

He couldn't help but smile at how immediately aghast she was, and how readily she accepted a literal interpretation. Not that the reality wasn't that far from it. In some ways the communication between himself and the world was in some ways verbal, but that was a bit of a misleading simplification perhaps. He couldn't help but chuckle just a little as her follow up questions overtook the entirety of her attention. She really seemed to just zero in on him. He turned his attention out to the ocean and sighed a bit to himself as he offered a calm smirk to her.

"In a way. But sand doesn't exactly have much of a voice. Not usually at least. Not by itself." He gently reached down and patted the wet grit. Normally, he didn't feel anything from such places. But here in the City of Lights, everything was artificial. So purposeful. That even this beach was a part of it. And so, he DID feel a response. A subtle echo, something resembling a reply. Not that he could do much with THAT. Though he did wonder if some day he could.

"It's not quite like actually talking. So lets say, I get up." He stood up and promptly gestured down to himself. Showing the sand sticking to his seat as well as his hands. [color=cadetblue]"Now lets say, I think to the sand. 'Get down.'. I just reach out to the sand and.."[.color] He held his hands open, and a soft crackle of green energy slicked up the length of his body as the individual particles of sand promptly flung themselves downward from his body, an audible patter like rain as the sand promptly shot down into the ground with little gentle impacts. And with that, he smiled and held his hand up for the woman to inspect, not even a speck of grit on him.

"Of course sand is kinda easy. But if its something like grease, then I'm better off just using soap and water."

Bauher raised a brow a bit like that and smiled. "Ahah. No that was just a joke. You know how hermits and the like go mad and start talking to themselves. It was a little jest on why I was talking to inanimate object in the first place." He pointed out with a lopsided little smile, certainly wouldn't be the first or last time he went and explained one of his jokes. That was fine though, he'd certainly enjoyed them, after all.

"You mentioned you're a shinigami. But usually shinigami on earth are on a mission, rather than relaxing on the beach. You on some kind of long deployment?" He ventured with a tilt of his head. Not that it mattered, not like he was her boss or anything. But he was a bit curious, what few times he'd run into them they were usually busy. But then, its possible he ran into plenty of them in gigai and never knew about it. So he was curious about her particular situation.

Bauher simply maintained that calm smile of his and listened patiently as she gave her apologies. "That's fine, you don't need to worry about it." He assured her. Though as she went on to show more than a bit of cringing at the mention of the gotei, he raised a brow slightly at that. Well everyone had regrets when they were young, he supposed. It was pretty clear she'd rather not breach the subject, and so he was more than happy to oblige.

"Is that right? And then what led you to the City of Lights then? I'm sure you could edge out a comfortable life just about anywhere. Anything in particular draw you here?" He offered a change of subject as he turned his attention to the small cooler he brought with him. Cleaning off his hands with a few swipes against the side of his swimtrunks, he then too out a soda and promptly offered one to Lilith before settling back down onto his beach towel, sipping root beer as he listened to the ghost samurai wizard and her explanation.

Bauher took a drink from his own beverage and raised a brow slightly. Not at the burp itself, but at the sudden apologetic murmur that came after it. It was a little amusing how kids got so flustered about that stuff. He offered a light smile of his own and simply chuckled. "Better out than in. Don't worry about it." He assured her. Not that he didn't understand. Certainly he'd been given a few wry looks in the past by friends and coworkers.

Never Belle though. She always thought it was funny, oddly enough that had made him more self conscious about it rather than encouraging.

He smiled a bit wider, closing his eyes in a brief moment of nostalgia. Tuning back in just as she started to speak again. Hm, so she was here for business. He wasn't surprised. With the sort of reach and scope the Vandenreich had these days, he didn't imagine it'd be long before all sorts of companies started to move in. It was honestly a little impressive that Claudia had keened in on that sort of beneficial relationship so early. "Is that right? I certainly hope your meeting goes well." He took a sip of his drink and took a moment to contemplate the second part of her question. What about him? "Dunno. I came here to keep an eye on family that lives in the city. Then I wound up getting a job here. I suppose for now, its permanent until fate proves otherwise." He noted with a careless smirk and a little shrug of his shoulders.