Break time! [Mai/Kaminari]

Mai’s smile brightened again when Kaminari laughed, and Mai joined in with her.
“There we go, your first real laugh,” Mai said after a moment. Kaminari returned to the conversation, and Mai let her walk her way through it.
“That is true, especially if he was all wounded himself. Was he?” Mai asked, tilting her head slightly at the question. She used past tense, because this was Kaminari they were talking about; no way the guy stayed hurt. After Kaminari finished answering Mai thought for a moment.
“He does at least deserve a good meal, and pleasant company. You can be that, when you want to,” Mai said with small chuckle.

That was definitely Kaminari’s first real laugh in a while, not just because of recent events. She had more than just this on her mind, though everything else was pushed to he back-burner now.

“Yeah, he used his shikai ability to slow the burning down… Whoever attacked him modified a sokatsui to act more like napalm. Frankly, it was impressive… and inspiring…” Kaminari gave that look to Mai, one that came with a curiously raised eyebrow. They would both have to figure out how this kido modification was done. Kaminari had been hearing some Shinigami adding elements to their kido recently, specifically Lieutenant Morikawa, but hadn’t tried it herself. If someone on the other team also could do it, the modification must not be that hard.

“That’s…” Kaminari’s voice trailed off a bit. “That is… uh… the plan…”

And just like that, Kaminari had successfully dragged Mai off the topic of her nebulous date.
“Like napalm? From a sokatsui? Huh..,” Mai said, taking another bite of ice cream and considering that for a few moments.
“Hmm…maybe it was a combination with another kidou to alter the properties of the Sokatsui at a base level? But no, that would be more like the two-fold incantation technique, and there would have had to have been a second kidou called. Maybe an elemental alteration? Could also have been a unique kidou technique for modifying the spell. Ooh, or it could have been something to do with the person’s Zanpakuto altering it, I’ve heard about that happening. How’d your friend end up fighting another Shinigami over all of this? If it was acting like napalm like you said then it would have had lingering affects; did you notice anything odd about it when you were treating it? You were the one to treat it you said; maybe it had the base energy altered to amplify the burning factor until the effect advanced into a new form? Could you apply something like that to a kaido I wonder; being able to weave a spell that healed someone over time would speed up efficiency in the hospitals by like forty percent I think. Maybe more? We should work up something like that.”

It was perhaps in this moment, more than in the quiet displays of sadness, that the stress of what was going on and what Mai was feeling might have been evident; especially to someone that knew her. Mai always had a bad habit of running down rabbit holes as it were, chasing thoughts about things that interested her. It was rarer for her to just start listing out so many of her thoughts out loud, or for her to fall into them quite so quickly. Likely a consequence of not quite enough sleep.

One thing Kaminari knew how to do, and that was get Mai to talk. Kido was both of their interests, but Mai had this energetic way about verbalizing every idea that came to mind. Kaminari used that in this moment. She wanted to just stop talking and relax, but more than anything else, Kaminari really wanted to just… sleep.

As Mai kept on, Kaminari closed her eyes and didn't open them again. She fell asleep first and then slowly fell back until she had collapsed onto the ground, quickly entering a deep and well-deserved slumber.

Mai continued along, spouting increasingly esoteric theories on way to adjust the nature of a kidou to get the kind of effect Kaminari had described and even how some of their effects would be different from one another. She continued for nearly five minutes before she a thought; she had been let free to ramble and talk for a long time. She looked over at Kaminari to find the woman gently snoozing on the ground. Mai blinked twice before letting out a chuckle that she smothered down.
“No fair, you caught me monologuing,” she said without an ounce of negativity. Honestly, she couldn’t blame Kaminari; she’d been working nonstop, the girl needed a break.

So, Mai let her sleep. She took another bite of her ice cream, finishing it off before setting the container down. Then she simply flopped backwards, looking up at the blue sky. For a moment, for this moment, things were peaceful. All around there was problems to be found, pain to be felt. Out there, the bad guys were working up their next plan. But for this moment there was warmth and calm and the comforting presence of a friend.

If you kept stringing moments like this together, moving forward wasn't so hard.

Mai closed her eyes and indulged herself with a little nap as well beside her friend.