Crumbs on the Table [Erchanhardt, Himiko]

For the Holy Roman Emperor, there was a great deal of work which needed be done. His own lands had been mostly put into order, any significant unrest brought to heel through policy or through his own two fists. But, even if peace was present within his borders, that did not lessen the potential dangers from without. As such, Erchanhardt had taken something of a diplomatic journey, entering into Italy in the hopes that he might find some form of centralized authority.

He had, of course, not actually been expecting such a thing. Even if the government was nominally in place, the significant loss of infrastructure following Shadow Fall's disappearance meant that it was, at most, made up of smaller townships. That, however, was ultimately preferable for Erchanhardt. It of course made diplomacy far easier, if these lands had no immediate greater authority which needed appeasing. But, there was a second reason for his preference, one far more personal.

Really, it simply reminded him of his younger days, those times when Europe had seemed so very large.

Of course, those times were over now, and Erchanhardt found himself overlooking the Italian countryside with a cup of coffee in hand. The mug almost seemed undersized in his hand, but the comedy of that particular comparison tended to be lost on him. This was all simply a pleasant little day off, to enjoy whatever this country had to offer.

"Whoa there big guy, you're pretty big, huh?"

Himiko said while peeking over his shoulder. Her ears twitching excitedly. He was like, totes huge. What'd this guy get fed to get so big and naturally Himiko couldn't resist just butting in to tell him that. She was that kind of girl.

But wait, how did she get here? Well that was pretty easy. Murasaki sent her on patrol here, duh. Patrolling was great and all but sometimes you just had to make some diplomacy with the people and they had this awful way of calling her a demon or something. Like what? No way, she wasn't a demon. Anyone with half a reikaku cell could tell that she was pure shinigami, through and through.

So after diplomacy had gone up and down, she needed to cool off and that's how she got here. Flashback end, back to the current scene of Himiko standing over the big guy and his coffee.

"Oh. I forgot why I talked to you haha, I'm here to ask if I can sit with ya. All the other seats are taken and so, well.. yeah."

"Hm? Yes, I do suppose that I am."

That was certainly a method of greeting that Erchanhardt was not immediately used to, though it was also an observation that he was all too familiar with at this point in his life. Glancing over to the woman who had said it, he was a tad surprised to see several things. The first, quite obviously, would have been the ears and the tail that stuck out as quite peculiar. However, just as quickly he noticed that despite her commentary on his size, she was not exactly a woman of small stature herself.

"By all means, feel free."

Moving his assorted newspapers and the like closer to his own side of the table, Erchanhardt stood to pull out the other chair for her. It was honestly probably unnecessary, but that sort of etiquette wasn't something one simply forgot about over time, even if it had proven to be drastically less popular with the younger generations. If a woman looked to take a seat, you offered it to her. That was just basic courtesy.

"Ah, I am Erchanhardt. Might I ask the name of my company?"

He could have given her his full name and titleage, of course, but that wasn't immediately pertinent, and he wasn't the sort to offer it simply on the grounds that he could. This was a simple lunch, after all, and he would enjoy it as such.

"You totes are. Like, whoa. You know?"

She took a seat- wait! He just pulled it out for her, he was like totally a gentleman huh? Okay, settle down Himiko. He probably does it for all the girls- okay but that makes it even better! Omg. She felt her tail wagging and her ears flicking, this was so great but she was getting way to distracted. Focus! Ears, stop! Tail, slow down! Eyes front. Bingo.

"Shikimura, Himiko. Ah, Hi-mi-ko. Shi-ki-mura. That way."

Thinking to clarify for him she also sounded it out, some of the people here needed her to slow it down and sound it out for them. Also clarify that her name wasn't actually Shikimura, that was her super cute surname.

"So what brings ya here Erchanhardt?"

That was a mouthful, she thought she got it right. No mistakes on saying it.

"That is an unusual surname, though pleasant on the ears. What are the kanji used in it?"

He was fairly used to asking questions like that when he heard a Japanese name. After all, given how the language worked, Erchanhardt knew there was no reason to even attempt guessing the spelling, particularly of a name he'd not heard before.

"Ah, just here on a bit of business. Ensuring smooth international relations and the like, keeping an eye on the situation here."

It wasn't in his nature to immediately reveal the scope of his intentions here in Italy, of course, nor to make it clear just how much weight his decisions actually carried. Erchanhardt naturally was one to keep all options close, but more pressingly, this was just a peaceful conversation with a friendly young woman. He had no reason to inundate her with all of that.

"Oh? You understand it? That's super duper cool. Let's talk in that, right? I kinda struggle with all the funny ways people talk here."

Accents and different languages!? So hard to keep track of it all. Japanese was so much easier, Himiko had almost forgotten to give the kanji so she pulled out a bit of paper towel and tried to draw the figures for 'four', 'forest' and 'village' onto the towel to make it clear for him.

"That sure sounds pretty big, I'm also doing that. Well, just kind of assessing the situation for the Gotei. I'm from the Seventh Division yanno, we handle all the earth affairs and right now I've got to get some details on the kind of hollow population densities."

She sipped at her drink, flicking her tail excitedly again before thinking she should clarify.

"Except um, not that I am asking you about it. My report's pretty much done. Let's just make a date out of this instead, you know? No point getting all business on eachother right? Hahaha."

Smooth Himiko. Smooth.

"With the Gotei? I had not realized they were so active in this region of Europe, though I would certainly call that a blessing."

Though he naturally understood the fact that the word had exceptionally different connotations in the modern age than it had centuries prior, to say nothing of its meaning in his own youth, that nevertheless made Erchanhardt take a very brief moment of pause to collect himself. A date? That was certainly brazen of her, though he supposed that what she ultimately sought out of this lunch was not especially different from his own aims. With a slight chuckle at how he had taken the matter, Erchanhardt gave her a short nod in response.

"Very well. Then it is a date, I suppose."

Wow. He actually took it, it'd been like soooo long since she got a date with a guy. Even if this whole date thing was just like, a hang out. Ultimately no different than if she had just been hanging out on a date with her girlfriends. A darn shame, he was kind of cute but she couldn't be brazen here. Everyone knew the guy had to ask a girl out proper you know?

"You bet we are. We can't be slacking, especially in such a time like this. So messy and chaotic, we gotta protect the cycle of souls after all. You know?"

She grinned at him, quite content with her response. Still, she should give him more right? Just lay down all the info about herself.

"Yeah so, um.. introductions. I'm from Soul Society, my favourite colour is blue but I think pink is pretty cute as well. My favourite food is... meat. I'm pretty easy like that haha. Now you go. A couple of questions like these are great conversation starters you know?"

Granted, she mostly used her approach of where she was from, colour and food when dealing with less mature people and children. Even when she got to hang out with guys they probably weren't even as mature as he seemed. She was really out of her league here with trying to get on the same page, huh?

"How responsible of you."

Her simple and lighthearted introductions were rather basic, though there was a certain charm to them that Erchanhardt rather liked. It seemed a fitting sort of conversation, given the simplicity of the small venue in which it was being held.

"I am from Konigsberg, in the north of Germany. I've not put much thought into my favorite color, though I suppose a deep read is rather appealing. My favorite food... Now that is a rather difficult question to ask. A good, hardy stew, I think."

Despite his position, Erchanhardt was a fairly simple man himself. He was not one for the extravagant feasts of the nobility, and in general, it was those meals he shared with his subjects that he found the most enjoyable.

"What do you do to fill your spare hours? I would hope that the Gotei does not have you working all day and night, after all."

He thinks she's responsible, heck yes! Gosh. This was perfect. She just had to keep it up. He did well to play the game, giving the three answers and letting her contemplate them. Right, where was Konigsberg? She didn't know, she could get with stew. In fact that was like the only thing she could make without her awful cooking skills manifesting... Perfect!

She couldn't sit here diddling the whole time though, she had to focus. 110% focus.

"My spare time, that's easy I..."

Wait. She couldn't tell him that all she did in her spare time was shopping and doing all that girly girly stuff. He'd probably think she was immature and a kid. Right, she'd need to tackle this with fox like cunning and precision.

"Oh you know, I like to read. I also get out to nature a lot, I really dig camping out and just getting to explore the place. I'm really fit for it to."

Nailed it, hehee.