A Peaceful Conversation? WHAT?! (Lilith, Kalama)

At the rate she moved around, Kalama didn’t have an awful lot of time for sightseeing but even the assassin had to admit that Paris was a beautiful city. It’d been a while since she’d last been there, on a job where she’d been asked to abduct the daughter of a wealthy aristocrat. A successful one too and the reward had certainly given a nice boost to her bank account. Yet, such jobs were fewer and farther between now, her talents more being used for increasingly violent tasks these days instead. Not that she complained, it kept her sharp, kept her fed and kept the adrenaline flowing.

“What the fuck are you talking about? You know as well as I do that he was going to get bumped off anyway! I did you a bloody favour! You should be paying me for dealing with the stupid bastard!” The green haired woman barked at her phone. “Just keep your mouth shut and take over his businesses like a smart person. Switch your bloody brain on for once!”

Cutting the conversation off before the poor soul on the other end could reply, Kalama would huff and take a sip of her drink. Having spent an hour or so collecting supplies, the assassin had found herself with a rare few moments where she could simply pause, allowing herself a brief respite from the chaos that was her life. It wouldn’t last long and her hunger for destruction wouldn’t be sated for long but for now, she just sat, mask off and looking like any other sightseeing tourist.

Even though the green haired girl looked like a tourist now, the foul language and loud mouth definitely caught the attention of people surrounding her. Some of her words weren’t exactly what Lilith thought were smart to just blurt out either. She practically admitted to murder right in front of the passing crowds. Of course, Lilith’s interest was piqued and she walked over to the shouting girl.

“You’re either very brave or extremely dumb to yell that kind of shit out here, young lady,” Lilith said, leaning against a small gate that separated her from the restaurants sitting area. “Sounds like you’re having a real shit day…” Lilith would seem genuinely concerned, especially with what she had just heard. She came off like a mother wanting to comfort someone else’s child. “You okay?”

The gaze of the petite woman moved from her phone to the passing crowds, as well as those around her, purple orbs staring a hole through every single one who looked her in the eyes. It was an intimidating look, one that screamed out just what she was capable of and out of all those people, there were none who actually held her gaze. They knew that her words were genuine and she didn’t need to so much as utter a verbal threat to them to prove it. The look of a killer and one who’d done so recently.

Once the attention was off of her, she’d turn to the eye patch wearing individual who’d spoken to her. This woman didn’t seem to have the spiritual pressure of a Quincy and that alone was enough for Kalama not to simply erupt into a rage. No, this person had a pressure more similar to the assassin’s own, which left Kalama with mixed feelings. She could never tell what she was going to get with her own kind.

Shrugging her shoulders, she’d put her phone away and answer. “Just dealing with the aftermath of one of my latest encounters. More often than not, things get rather hairy. This one was such an event.”

That was putting it mildly.

Her tone was rather suspicious as she asked. “You with the Gotei?”

One of her latest encounters, hm? Lilith could only wonder what a young little thing like Kalama was getting herself into. It was clear by Kalama’s words that someone had died, but this wasn’t a place Lilith would bring that up. When the young Shinigami asked her a question with such suspicion in her voice, Lilith put up both hands and smiled, waving them like she was innocent.

“No, no. Shinigami, yes. Gotei, no. I abandoned that occupation many, many years ago.” Lilith said more honestly than most, putting her hands back down and returning to lean on the small gate. “Why? Would that be a problem?”

Hearing that the woman wasn’t in the Gotei helped Kalama relax a touch although it would take a keen eye to notice the slight relaxation of her shoulders. The organisation was an awkward one for the assassin. She knew they wouldn’t care much for her way of life but frankly that meant very little to her. They weren’t the force that they’d once been. There’d been a time where even Kalama had felt proud to be a member but those days were long gone.

“I don’t like them all that much and it’s always a pain when I meet one of their members.” Kalama replied honestly. “Not like they’re actually the real Gotei or anything these days. Just a shadow of what they used to be.”

Taking a sip of her drink, she’d then add. “Nice to know I’m not the only relic wandering around this realm, I suppose.”

Lilith caught the relaxation in Kalama after the Gotei answer. She could deduce the girl was a rogue, or on the run in some way. Poor thing… Lilith's smile widened.

“A relic am I? I guess that’s a good way of describing it,” Lilith said and laughed at the thought. “I can’t say I like what they’ve become either. Bunch of arrogant jackasses, if you ask me… I haven’t been back in a very long time, but I doubt much changed. Still, I’m sure there are some good eggs there somewhere.”

"Mind if I sit?" Lilith said as she made her way around to the other side of Kalama's table. If there was no chair, she grabbed on and dragged it up. It seemed Kalama didn't really get a choice in her company today. Lilith sat down sideways in the chair, leaning her back against the restaurant gate instead of the chair. Crossing on leg over the other, she looked curiously at Kalama, "So, what's this assassin's group you've joined? Hope you're not a youngin' throwin' your life away."

Considering whether to argue over the woman suddenly sitting at her table for a second, Kalama would simply watch for a moment or two, purple eyes surveying the other Shinigami. She didn’t seem threatening in her manner which in of itself was kind of weird for Kalama. Her world was one where such things were non-existent, where a moment of kindness could result in a knife in the back. It was harsh but that was her life and had been for oh so long.

In the end, she made no effort to prevent the woman, musing over what she said about the Gotei. It wasn’t too far off from how she felt although Kalama’s issues with them were from a slightly different angle. “That much we can agree on. They’re a very different group to the one that I was a member of. Wasn’t so much red tape and shit, just the mission and getting it done.”

The question posed to her was rather unexpected and not one that Kalama had figured would be asked quite so soon, however, she recovered well. “I’m not in an organisation. I work freelance and have for a long time. My time in the Gotei taught me how to hunt and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since. When there’s a job to do, my contacts call me, knowing that I’ll do it without complaint.”

She paused for a moment and then added dryly. “I take the last part back. I bitch a lot.”

The ‘red tape’ was an interesting note. She heard very little first-hand accounts of how the Gotei was structured these days. She knew they took on the knew moniker of “Gotei United,” which sounds like a step in the right direction, but who knew whether it was true or not. She would find that information out later on…

Lilith was a blunt woman, so any questions she asked were straight to the point. It was good this young woman was not part of some murderous organization; things would likely have taken a different route here. However, the ‘do what your told’ aspect of Kalama’s view point was worrisome. And then Lilith released a genuine laugh. The “dry” part of Kalama’s tone let that comment hit humorously.

“If you like what you do, why do you ‘bitch’ so much?” Lilith asked, waving over a waiter. She asked for a strawberry daiquiri, nothing too strong, but with rum. Once the waiter left, she turned her attention back to Kalama. Lilith’s demeanor was likely more caring that Kalama expected. She was coming off as that nice school teacher everyone liked, who genuinely wanted to get her students to their goals.

Taking a sip of her drink, Kalama would muse over the question before answering with another shrug. “It’s not the job, it’s who I work for. They’re all shitheads and after listening to them go on and on about their wealth and conquests for so long, it begins to grind. That said, they pay me well for what I do so I guess it’s just part and parcel of the whole fucking thing. I know that a lot of them would rather hire their own associates to do their work but they know that I’m far more skilled so they have no choice. I guess you can say that it all makes for a toxic atmosphere.”

It was strange as to how easy it was for the assassin to talk to the woman opposite her. Most Shinigami were so upright and proper nowadays, humping the flag of justice and all that crap, so it was somewhat of a surprise for the green haired relic to actually be able to speak of such things. She wasn’t afraid of talking about her employment or her past, it was just that she couldn’t be fucked normally because people just gave her a fucking lecture, one that she’d heard once too often. God, she missed the times where Shinigami just slaughtered their enemies and thought little of it. Simpler times.

“When you do what I do, you meet the worst people.” She added after a moment.

Lilith turned in the chair to face Kalama, using her arm to prop her head up under her chin. She could sort of sense the anger in this child and wondered where exactly in came from. Was it just pure bloodlust? A horrible childhood? Betrayal leading to a closed heart? It really was the question of whether Kalama was a lost soul in need of guidance or a psychopath who enjoyed killing. Of course, this was not something Lilith would conclude over a single restaurant conversation.

“Imagine that you were paid very well to… manage a store, make deliveries, cook food, heal the sick… Would you do it?” Lilith asked, a small smirk on her face as she eyed the girl. “Is it the violence and the killing you love, or merely the money?”