family reunion

[Alessandra]

Alessandra turned off the large tv, looked at the time and closed her eye's before muttering to herself "time to get to work."

strapping her pouches to her belt she left the hotel room and headed to the elevator, tonight she hoped to use the new found information she had regarding the city, and put it to good use.

[Aloysius Koehler]

Cole wandered the nearly lifeless sidewalks, occasionally lit by the pale light offered by the hanging street lights. It was a dark night, and it seemed odd to him that the city was sleeping, with the streets nearly devoid of activity.

He softly walked on the concrete pavement, wearing a dark blue jacket over his normal attire. It was exceptionally cold tonight, adding to the bizarreness today seemed to bring him.

But his thoughts were mostly occupied on how empty the city was of Hollows. He had been performing patrols after he returned to his guardian's home and apologized. Profusely, rather, for having disappeared in the middle of the day with no warning whatsoever.

Cole leaned against the wall of a cold, stone building, a grocery store of some description. It was closed for the night, a family affair or some holiday, Cole surmised. He looked up towards the black sky, the stars hidden behind the unseen clouds above. "I'm bored..." He muttered quietly to himself with a sigh.

[Alessandra]

The brisk air of the night felt delightful. Alessandra moved from building to building quietly and efficiently. Placing her small explosive charges on the tops of buildings that she felt would be ample firing positions. The cold air was invigorating and refreshing. The moon provided just enough lighting to make out of individual faces among the scattered populous .

Upon deciding on a final firing position she once again check the crosses on her wrists just to make sure they were there. In a burst of energy for rifle emerged from hers quickly taking up a firing position to take shots on a nearby Market district

[Aloysius Koehler]

Last time Cole was here, he ended up fighting one of the strangest Shinigami he'd ever met, probably the most suicidal as well. Other times, it was just a few hollows that he had chased all the way out here. Usually there were quite a few, being an urban center usually attracted them, but it still felt odd-

There. That was something, a blip on the radar, or just a false warning. It was a quick, quiet burst, and he couldn't pinpoint it, but he sensed it. He looked around the street, at first, and then above at the rooftops. There was nothing yet. I thought... maybe I'm going crazy. He thought to himself.

He started walking again, this time redoubling his efforts to sniff out any potential threats nearby. He got caught off guard once in this city, nobody was going to get that lucky twice.

[Alessandra]

Alessandra focused her rifle sight on the different people walking in the area. There were very few people walking through the neighborhood however she dutifully scanned over each individual watching their movements and their actions. 1 figure caught her attention and her jaw immediately dropped. " it can't be" she told herself. Dumbfoundead she quickly adjusted her scope to get a better view. " it is him" she said full of excitement. She could almost immediately tell that something was bothering him or he was deep in thought simply from the expression on his face. Raising her rifle to take aim right above him she took a deep breath before yelling. "Cousin koley!" At the top of her lungsand squeezing off an arrow Hoping to scare him.

[Aloysius Koehler]

Cole heard the shout and something clicked in his mind. A shiver ran down his spine, and with it, an instinct that was years old, drilled in through continued shock and experience. He felt the arrow approach him and immediately moved out of its path, utilizing his Ausweichen technique to move his body a few feet from the arrow's path.

He immediately looked for the source and spotted her, his eyes carrying a shocked expression and a bead of sweet forming on his forehead. It can't be her... He thought, more hopeful than in denial. "Oh this is going to be fun." Alex commented in the back of Cole's mind, apparently laughing at the others misfortune.

[Alessandra]

Alessandra saw the shock turn to horror on coles face as he realised exactly who had taken the shot at him. She was well aware that even if she had aimed at him he would have been fine, though she had this odd obsession of saying hello from afar in this manner. they had played this game of cat and mouse since they were kids. the memory made her smile.

Quickly shouldering her rifle and swinging herself over the rail. Hitting the ground, she  sprinted off heading towards cole. Her smile not faltering as she bounded through the alley ways quickly closing the distance between them.

Out of the entire family cole was the only one who had not called her useless, and had actually treated her  like a quincy, Despite the fact that her usual greeting for her favorite cousin was usual a well placed shot at his feet or right above his head.

Her large rifle almost dwarfed her as she approached cole. Her attire while not exactly great for the night air, it definitely would help cole identify her, as would her teal hair.

[Aloysius Koehler]

What did I do to deserve this? Was Cole's only thought, in dismay at the sight of Alessandra, his childhood nightmare. "Alessandra." Was all he could manage to say, and was actually successful in making it seem a sincere greeting, at least in tone only. In reality, everything was screaming at him to run at the nearest opportunity. All told, she hadn't changed much from the last time he saw her, but that was years ago. She was older, and, he hoped, less prone to performing the insane stunts she was always dragging him into.

[Alessandra]

Alessandra finally reached Cole as she started laughing at him.
"looks like i got you again!" she said as she took a moment to catch her breath.
"how the hell have you been? how long has it been!!" she exclaimed as she rested the butt of her rifle on the ground.

[Aloysius Koehler]

"It's been a few years." Cole managed to reply with some false enthusiasm, and then noted that she still had her rifle. "... Ales, there are people around..." He told her, nodding towards the rifle she was openly flaunting around. They may be humans, but they led a secret life, one that wasn't supposed to be revealed to bystanders. It was just asking for trouble.

[Alessandra]

"it has been quite some time" she agreed.

Alessandra laughed as her long rifle disapeared into nothing. "always the trivial things eh koley" she said jokingly she kept her hand near a small remote device on her side despite the joking demeanor she was still ever cautious and vigilent.
"ive been keeping an eye on the area. Hunting if you will" she explained. she knew that discharging her rifle needlessly like that could attract alot of... unwanted attention however her shock at seeing her favorite cousin had over ridden her sense of reason for a short time.

[Aloysius Koehler]

"Well, that explains why I can't find a single hollow around here. Or anything at all..." Cole commented with a sigh of mixed relief and boredom. But then a thought hit him. "Ales, what have you been hunting?" He asked, remembering her history. Her family split from his for a reason, they were soldiers, his family was not. But it went further than that even...

[Alessandra]

"27 hollows eliminated in the past 3 weeks" she explained to Cole.

"primarily hollows" she said vaguely.

"had an encounter with probbably the single weirdest soul reaper ive ever seen... as well as an exceptionally strong hollow." she said as she presented her bandaged wrapped arm.

"she got me pretty good, im sorry to admit"she added as she withdrew her arm and checked her wrists for both of the crosses.

[Aloysius Koehler]

"An exceptionally strong hollow? ... and a Shinigami." Cole repeated with some mild interest and concern. "What did the hollow look like?" He continued with his questions. "And what about the Shinigami? What did you do to them?"

Cole already anticipated the answer to that question. After all, the main reason the Shultz family was divided from the Koehlers was that they wanted to continue fighting against the Shinigami, and the Koehlers, mainly his great grandfather, wanted to go into hiding and avoid more bloodshed. Alessandra was just one example of that, or at least, that's what the others assumed.

[Alessandra]

Alessandra  moved over to the side of the building nearest to them
"her name was rose, Blond hair, long. pale complexion, scantily clad. resembled a shinigami. had a polearm on her back, covered by a cloak." she said  as she recalled the happenings of the night.

"i put an arrow into her heart..... minor effect. from there it went downhill faster than the french" she said jokingly.

"as for the shinigami." alessandra continued. "she saved me, and then asked me to join her captain." alessandra sounded confused by that however her face  only showed briefly.

"both are alive, i only harmed the hollow, an arrancar as i hear it called. and as you can tell she did hell of alot more damage to me" she said dejectedly. "what about you, what brings you out this way?" she asked, quickly hoping to change the subject.

[Aloysius Koehler]

Cole couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief that Alessandra didn't try and kill the shinigami. Though the appearance of an arrancar was odd. Maybe they were a leftover Fraccion from the previous battle against Aizen and his hollow forces? That would be troubling.

"I was patrolling, I usually wander around Karakura, but I didn't have any luck there either." Cole replied to Alessandra as he thought about the Arrancar, Rose she was called. Cole brought his hand to his chin, supporting it as he thought about the matter some more. "An Arrancar in Kagamino... There might be more. We'll need to hunt them down if there are any. Especially if they're remnants of Aizen's army."

[Alessandra]

"aizen?" asuna asked. the mention of an army grabbing her interest immediately.

"well cousin, are there any hot spots these arrancar like to hang out at?" she asked half jokingly though her thoughts hung on every word that he had just said.

"you have always been the stronger of the two of us" she said. "if you want we could go...hunting" she said with a childlike grin .

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