Look out below!

The squat, bulky hollow with the gorilla like arms raised both fists up and brought them down to Jackhammer Thane's face. He suddenly found himself in a world of pain before everything faded into white and a crystal clear ringing.

He'd found work that seemed easy enough. Money had certainly been harder to come by when he had the old man bitching in his ear. And when the old rabbit could withhold his powers from Thane, he only wanted to cross him so far. But what did he expect? Living costs money. Money that his new abilities didn't exactly help him at a standard job. What did the rabbit expect from him, to go live in his crazy fantasy land? To hell with that. Thane had his own LIFE. It didn't just end because the goddamned old man had needed HIS help that day.

But whatever. So his field of work was limited now that he needed to bring a moral elitist nanny around with him whenever he felt like having access to all that power. When it turned out that some members of the black market were dealing in supernatural wares, it became something of a win win. He irons out some business for Lagomorph, he gets to keep whatever they had left over. Unfortunately it turned out they had a big hollow guard dog they had no problem unleashing on him.

One that currently had knocked him out of the sky. He felt straight down an alley before crashing into an empty dumpster with an earth shattering blow. The lid slowly swung shut over him.

"uggggghhh." He groaned. 'Thane... Thane! Are you all right?' Lagomorph asked him.

"Just let me die you stupid rabbit.." He groaned back.

"Now THATS something you don't see every day. Some other fucker talkin to themselves after landing in a dumpster from the sky. Oh look a hollow." Naki picked up the person's spoken language instantly, replying to them in whatever tongue it was. Her bicolored eyes glancing up as a hollow flew straight down towards him. She had just happened to be in this spot, trying to find someone to eat when some asshole had to land in that dumpster and startle her. She was starved... But the one in the dumpster was too strong to eat. However that lug in the sky? "Of all the raging nutsack shiners today... well..."

A vicious grin the spread across her face. Hollows were delicious and this one was just an all muscle one. A portal opened up right in front of the hollow as it neared the dumpster, the smashing into it stunning it briefly as Naki closed that and opened another. She fell into this one and appeared on its back, latching on as it fell to the ground screaming. It didn't take more than a few seconds for her to suck the whole thing up and she patted her stomach with a pleased sound. "Delicious. Welp, see you dumpster asshole. Thank ya for the meal."

She patted the side of the dumpster.

"Who you callin' an asshole." Thane grumbled woozily to nobody. 'Thane. Thane.... THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANE!' "AHH! WHAT!" He sat up sharply, looking around. Holy shit. What happened? Wait. The hollow! 'Thane you need to-' "Yeah yeah yeah. He hopped up, bursting from the dumpster. He looked around. Where... Where was the Hollow? He glanced over. That chick... She.. wasn't fucking normal... He hopped over the edge of the dumpster, his hood falling back. He didn't even think to switch to street clothes.

"Hey Kill Steal!" He called after her, his inflection making it clear the term was a name, not an accusation.

'Does it really MATTER who killed it?'

"Where'd you come from? And... how the hell'd you DO that?"

Naki ignored the grumbling of the dumpster asshole, trying to get her bearings. What city was she in and where again? A good meal like that always made her a bit drowsy, but it wasn't as if it was a problem. She had a job here and some nice houses she had scouted out for loot later. But where WAS she in reference to all that?

As the person recovered behind her, she heard the name calling and stopped dead. Kill Steal? Really? Snorting, she turned sideways and crossed her arms to glance at the... Bunny man. He had wittle bunny ears on his head. Oh souls above how precious. Snorting more, she laughed for a few seconds before looking at him. Where she came from doesn't matter, instead she stared straight at him and spoke in a deadpan voice. "My stomach was making the rumblies that only souls would satisfy. So I ate him."

That obviously did not answer his questions. She just stared at him.

Thane stared at her. She stared at him. Lagomorph cleared his throat but got no response from Thane. He stared, almost slackjawed at her. The rumblies... that only souls would satisfy?

A still wind blew down the alleyway, one could almost expect a tumbleweed.

"What the FUCK does that even mean?!"

"I don't know. It sounds pretty straightforward to me." Naki blinked once, twice... A third time. Finally she spoke. "Bitch, I eat people."

Oh man she was having a bit of fun, her sense of humor a bit twisted as she gave him a lopsided grin.

'Thane. Meet your first Bount. She should be well fed thanks to that Hollow, but stay on your toes. They can be a dangerous lot.' He gave a tiny nod. Hrm. He didn't exactly MIND dangerous, but he knew better than to ignore the old rabbit's advice. He took a few steps forward, closer to her.

"So do I. It still seems impressive to down a hollow that size though."

'You eat people?' Lagomorph asked, his voice full of shock.

'I bit off a guys ear once and accidentally swallowed it.'

'Disgusting.'

"Ya know...only crazy fuckers talk to themselves." Naki's face and eyes moved from nonchalant blankness to wary in an instant as she stepped back. It was all fun and games until now, when he moved closer. "So Dumpster Asshole, I'll just take this as my exit cue and leave you to your mutterings. Any last requests for quotes from my favorite movies or you all worn out of missing references?"

Wake me up when you actually meet some fucker who isn't half cocked. Holy shit your luck lately has been SHOT.

"Talk to myself?" What was she

'She can't hear me, Thane. We've been over this. NOBODY but me can hear me. Besides, you're somewhat in luck. Just explain what I tell you to.

He nodded. "Hold up. I'm not saying I'm the most stable guy on the planet, but I'm not some kind of schizo. It's.." He hesitated, as Lagomorph began to explain. "Look, you're a bount right? So you've got some kind of.. Doll... doll, really?" he whispered the last bit just loud enough for her to hear. "Well I've got a similar situation going on, except I haven't figured out how to communicate with the monkey-"

'Rabbit.'

"I'm not saying that... With the MONKEY on my back mentally yet." He rested a hand on his hip and tipped his head to the side. "Is yours giving you shit too? I know mine is being a pest."

He was confused? Naki was sure this man was losing it but she put a few things together. The hollow had hit him from the sky. Probably some sort of spiritual being who had something talking to them a lot.

Looking at the man, he looked yeah... Like he wasn't exactly all there anyways.Bount... Doll. Oh hell no. Naki was about two seconds away from booking it when his words caught her interest. He had something similar? But obviously not the same. His signature felt off, she didn't know what to make of it.

Watching his movements though, she was a bit reassured and gave a slight nod. Her guard relaxed just...slightly. "I guess. Tor is a pest always though. What the fuck are you? Your power feels weird. And what the fuck are those sticking out of your head? Are you some kind of rabbit god or something?"

Okay she was curious, it wasn't as if she couldn't just disappear at any moment.

It looked like he'd managed to get through to her to some degree. That was good. Why was it good? Well.. shit, he wanted to talk to her. He didn't have to explain himself to you, narrative framing device. "Tor? Nice. Mine's name is Lagomorph." He gestured to the cloak he was wearing. "He's-"

'Do not... Tell her... That you are helpless without me...' Lagomorph said... a little direly... 'Trust me..' He knew her kind too well.

"Well WE sort of had a bonding experience. He was this rabbit hollow thing, but we had a sort of... merging accident..." He sighed.

'Good cover, Thane.'

"And as a result..." He gestured up to his ears. "I can hear a pin drop halfway across town but I can't wear baseball hats anymore. I call it a win win." He said with his own lopsided grin.

"Thats a mouthful." Naki chuckled at the name, lagomorph sounded familiar. Did it have something to do with rabbits? He had those floppy ass ears. Still a merging accident? Her green and brown eyes stared at the person who had...apparently been a normal human before merging with a hollow. "Holy hell, that's a special set of circumstances. Unlucky bastard. Least I was born this way knowing what would happen."

She clapped her hands together and smirked, she wasn't one to smile truly most of the time but she could give him this. "Well dumpster asshole, my name is for now Naki. Its subject to changing though. You and...Bun Buns lets call him, are interesting so I might like to learn more about this merger and stuff from before. Information is valuable and well I know someone who'd buy if you'd be interested in selling?"

Moving closer to him, she peered up at the ears. He'd answer her question or not, but for now she wondered how those worked.

'Hrm. She bought it. You really are a good liar.' Well obviously he was a good liar. What did Lagomorph think he kept getting himself out of prison by doing? Telling the truth? He wished he could mouth off to him about it but... counterproductive to say the least. "Yeah.. It's been a real pain in the ass so far. Hm?" She was acting.. odd... and smirking.. Why did she keep calling him Dumpster Asshole? Oh shit. Had he not told her his name?! "It's Thane, by the way."

'Thane, we should go. There's nothing we can give her, or should give her. She's a wild element at best and dangerous at worst.'

He was right, they should just-

"Selling?" He perked up immediately, and visually, his eyes lighting up. "That depends entirely. On what you're offering for it, that is." He gave a small, interested smirk.

"Thane. Huh pick that one yourself too?" Naki laughed lightly, this person was amusing as all hell and those bunny ears were ridiculous! She reached up as she moved closer, wanting to touch them. As he spoke, though, interested she stopped her movements and hmmed.

"Weeeelll. I can offer you money? Maybe information yourself if I might have it. You'd have to ask and if I know the answer I can tell you in return. That'd require trust on both our parts though." His smirk was interesting, maybe he'd want other things? She looked down at her chest and sighed. Would it be that again? Couldn't hurt to ask. "Lessee, anything you have in mind otherwise?"

"Of course. What good career criminal uses their own name?" 'Ex career criminal?' Shush, Rabbit, he thought to himself. He gave a little shrug, noticing her going for the bunny ears. They twitched, a little nervous at being touched. He wasn't going to sly away from her though.

'... This is foolhardy but I guarantee you there is no information she could give that we would not already have or be able to easily obtain'. The Rabbit sure was likely to be right about THAT. He seemed to know god damned everything.

"Hmm.. Information is a no go..." He was still wondering. Gold? Something to give him more power? Maybe... why was she looking down... Wait... What?

'You must be...' Lagomorph sounded completely exasperated.

"Are you offering your body for information?" He asked flatly.

"Dumbass criminals, which you aren't apparently." The twitching ear made her glance up, she really wanted to see if those fuckers were soft. Seriously. Still she restrained herself. Twitchy ass ears.

It seemed information wasn't something they wanted, oh well. As his voice turned flat Naki shrugged and looked down again, they weren't that interesting were they? It was on the table if he had wanted it, but it wasn't like she'd prefer other things. "I had someone ask for it recently to my fucking shock, but if there are other things I'd be fucktons happier with that."

"Good to hear." He said in reference to his perceived intelligence, watching her eyes dart to his ears. Of course... she wanted to touch them. Everyone wanted to touch them eventually. Might as well get THAT over with. "Huh. Really? Sounds like some kind of pervert." He said, before sighing.

"Yes.. you can touch them." He said, lowering his head but not bending forward. They twitched a little, as if welcoming her to come get them.

"Well... I can always use more money, but straight up selling information is even more risky then trading it...He thought for a moment... before getting an idea

'No. I know what you're thinking and I forbid it.'

"You're a crook, right? One who has supernatural powers. I.E. you must have some source of work for those with powers. How about this. You let me help you on your next job. That way we're not strangers. Then we negotiate selling of information because now we have some common ground of trust to work on." It wasn't an uncommon hoop to have to jump through for criminals. You always tend to trust someone who HASN'T screwed you more than someone who never had the CHANCE to.

"I suppose. There was a bet involved." Naki stared up at the ears as the human, Thane, bent over. He had said she could touch them. He had offered them to her. Should she take them? It was best to get it over with... Reaching up she pulled the ears down and buried her face in them, rubbing them against his cheek with a happy smile. Letting go after a few moments, with a deadpan face she nodded. "I'm done."

I can't fucking take you anywhere what the fuck was that shit?!

"They were ears. You can't not touch ears." Her voice was as deadpan as before, this time aimed at her shoes though she didn't give away that that was her doll. Still, she grew a bit more pleased as he seemed to take the offer of money... only to narrow her eyes in deep thought at the plan. Today was her first job using Julian, the uh rather... useful persona of that woman. Regulus couldn't be used for such a delicate job... Thane's logic was sound though. She brought a hand to her chin and leaned back as she spoke. "Well as long as you don't mind working with one other another supernatural person. He was gonna help me tonight, but I honestly never met the asshole before now... I wouldn't mind doing a job with you as long as you don't mind that Thane."

"Ah. A bet." He said as if that explained everything. It sort of did. He could understand betting that sort of thing at least. Still sounded a little outlandish, if not a little.. juvenile.. He hardly had time to think on that though. He didn't account for her shortness. He tipped his head some more as she pulled his ears down. His eyes closed and his mouth opened slightly, slowly exhaling, quiet as can be, while she rubbed her face in them. Once she let go he cleared his throat and shook his head, his face only slightly flushed. "Well you got your fill." He said with a smile.

"I don't mind at all." He said with a shake of his head. "I'm always interested in trying new things." He said with a pleasant enough smile, slowly relaxing. "So. What's the job, Naki?"

Naki nodded as Thane spoke. A bet. Yes, it was a bet. Yes. Good job, it explained everything. Still, why was his face flushed like that and why had he shook his head? Were those ears special or something? Whatever, not like she cared. She had gotten to touch the fuzz. It was worth every bit of whatever he was experiencing right now.

Hmming slightly, Naki pulled a phone from her pocket and slid her finger across the screen in a practiced motion. Up popped a rather innocuous looking item in an auction hall and she held it up so he could get a good look. It LOOKED like a generic knight helmet. Some stupid headline proclaimed it the HELMET OF ARTHUR.

"I need to get in and get that. My contract is paying a boatload for this shitty tin fucking thing. However those clusterfuck jockeys at the auction house got their hands on seki seki somehow and made a whole fucking vault out of it. I needed this fuck butler to get in, he's apparently a wizard or some shit at electronics. Are you good with lockpicking?" Naki spoke a bit sullenly, not liking this whole situation. She'd be able to get in if not for that seki seki... it was too small a space, her portal might end up messing up and she didn't want to be smeared across three worlds. Finishing up her story, she spoke quickly. "Alsohe'ssortatheooneImadethatbetwithsoIwillowehimsexifhefeedsmeasoul"

She coughed and looked around with a smirk. "Wanna see my power?"

Huh. Just some old helmet? Someone hired a supernatural person to steal a helmet? Someone was specifically guarding it from ghosts too. Could it have some sort of power? Or maybe this wasn't the first time it had happened to the target...

'The helmet looks familiar. I'm trying to place the time period it's from.. Seki Seki by the way is specifically used to block spiritual powers. This person is highly aware of the type of person coming after him' Lagomorph chimed in. Thane made a small 'hrm' noise as both a contemplative sound and acknowledgement of Lagomorph's input.

"Well, every good rabbit has a few tricks up his sleeve... I can't say for sure until I've seen the lock, but I'm no stranger to cracking a vault. How does this guy know to use seki seki?" He was thinking if he had any OTHER tricks up his sleeve when Lagomorph spoke up.

'Thane, regardless of the circumstances of our situation, I will not bandy about committing thievery.' Ugh. He'd have to talk to the old rabbit when he got a chance.

"Wait wait... Yeah I'd love to see your power, but..." He chuckled himself into a grin. "You're meeting the guy for the first time and you already have to sleep with him?"

"Well you looked shady enough. I guessed I lucked out again." Naki seemed pleased as she eyed the weird bunny man over, her two colored eyes curious but not asking anything. He was friendly and didn't want sex and wanted to help out, while also having the SKILLS to. "He's a normal human, he has no idea what he has and on top of that he has no idea what the seki seki is. He just thinks its some fucking cool rock, one of those people with more money than brains? If I'd known about this I woulda hit the place sooner, but fuck... He just thinks its lucky stone or some shit. The soul markets are in an uproar, no one an get in. Not even me with that fucking vault...not without help."

"And I told you, that fucking bet. He's a proxy for the person I made it with, which was working together plus a soul means I screw him. It carries over to this guy." Naki leaned back and pinched the bridge of her nose while closing her eyes. It sounded ridiculous when explained to another like this. Still though, for her it made a lot of sense.

She would try to explain. "Its too goddamn dangerous for me to show my face a ton. Having some asshole getting me souls sometimes in exchange for sex is way safer. I'm not prepared to fucking die yet, whether by starving or getting killed. Bounts aren't well liked, shinigami have kill on sight orders generally and arrancar don't like us much either. Not to mention hollows or quincies. Fullbrings are generally loners, lil shits with no knowledge so... Never much worry about them."

"Its not like I can't hide but... most races have a looong fucking memory. Comes with living for hundreds of years. Humans are like mayflies, flitting about and forgetting things while the shinigami still have wanted posters with my face on it." Naki was being really talkative, but it wasn't as if she didn't have a bit of time to kill. It wasn't like it was important information or things that would end up biting her in the ass like personal information. Still, she got tired of speaking and just opened a portal directly behind herself. Stepping back into it and coming out just to the side of Thane.

"I can get through and to most places. Seki seki is dangerous though to use it around."

He nodded, taking in everything she told him. The majority of it anyways. So it was pure coincidence the target happened to be prepared for her. Unlikely but he supposed not impossible. She had no reason to make a lie like THAT anyway...

She also explained the deal with her... paramour...

'That all sounds... grisly..' Lagomorph's deep voice chimed in. He agreed wholeheartedly. From the job, to the partner, to her own racial existence. He had to admit being a Bount sounded rough... and not entirely unrelateable. He could understand survival perfectly well... no matter the cost. He shifted uncomfortably. His movement seemed to clue Lagomorph in somewhat to his thinking.

'Whatever you're thinking Thane, stop. She isn't like you. Like any human. She feeds on souls for her own survival. She is a cannibal. A murderer. There is a REASON her kind isn't sanctioned in other realms...'

The old man was rarely mistaken and by her own description, he seemed right... Just... she didn't CHOOSE to be born like this... was it really fair to expect her to just roll over and die because of how she was born?

His internal reverie was disrupted by her power, surprising him enough that he stumbled a step or two.

"Huh. Well that's certainly handy. I can't teleport but-"

'If you insist on this association at least do me the favor of not explaining our powers.' He might have ignored the old man... but he said 'our'...

'I... suppose a parlor trick is in order... you know the one, right?'

Of course he did!

"I-.. I have a few tricks up my sleeve." He smirked, taking a few steps back, before jumping into the air and doing a somersault forward. Puffs of smoke ruffled out from him and when he landed...


He was a rabbit!

Thane's thoughtful silence was nice. Naki liked it. Much better than them both rambling again a ton. She watched as he stumbled back with a bit of a smirk and let out a chortle, trying not to fall into full blown laughter at it. Her head tilted as she heard 'can't teleport but...', making a small curious sound of question as he didn't continue that. Instead his announcement of a trick and then...somersault?

Into...a poof of smoke. There, sitting on the ground was... a cute rabbit. It wasn't cute. No it wasn't. So As Naki bent down and picked him up, she stared at him like she had his ears as she brought him up close to her eyes. That intense 'i wish to cuddle but not to show that i wish to' look in her eyes, she flipped him around and... promptly placed him in her dresses cleavage. She reached around and loosened the top slightly so he had more room to snuggle in, before patting his head.

"Yes. This is the best spot for you."

Thane made a little "eep!" bunny noise as he was picked up. Oh shit. What was she doing?! Panick? PANICK! PANICK PANICK!" His little bunny limbs started scurrying.

'Thane. Bunny instincts are running away with you. You ought to relax.' Lagomorph helpfully said. He spoke from wisdom, having been in Thane's shoes and knowing exactly what was coming next.

Plop. Little bunny paws had been covering Thane's head, but now they lowered to his side, finding.. something... soft around him... Soft and... and... He looked around, before turning his head to look up, his little eyes widening.

"C...Can I live here?" His voice came out less rough and deep and more... cute and fluffy, having adopted a bunny voice.