#*encounters.

               Their  presence was downright overwhelming. Eri had encountered plenty of beings like him (well, encountered was being a tad generous ---  gawked at  & generally disapproved of from afar would be much more accurate), and they were difficult to overlook in their own right, but this was on a whole other level. It was peculiar... The first thing to catch her notice was neither their aura nor their status (which, if you were wondering, was certainly not alive in a human sense), but the actual distribution of their energies. She was a novice when it came to picking up the ratios, but with a... “Being” this strong, it was fairly easy to notice the flow as a significant portion of it coalesced within his head. His face, to be exact... Peculiar indeed... 

                She fumbled so quickly for an apology out of habit, knowing good and well that she had been gaping openly at his features (particularly the expanse of skin his hair concealed), that it didn’t occur to her they perhaps were unaware in the first place.

                     ❝  Ah, I --- I didn’t mean to stare, really... !  I was just, um... Admiring your haircut. Very stylish !!  Ahahaaa...  ❞

                    ❝ A-Ah  , no, it really is a cute outfit ---  ❞

          She couldn’t help but squint somewhat as she bowed her head, an anxious half-chuckle slipping past her lips. It wasn’t really that her aura was overpowering, or even intimidating, it was just... ... ... Such... ... ... An  obnoxious  shade. No wonder her physical reaction to its hue was misconstrued.

                   ❝ I was actually wondering where you got it... !  ❞

              This  was it. 

              This was the closest she’d ever gotten to  One of Them  , and she would make it count. She was smart, of course --- Eri waited patiently (and safely, mind you) for the petite woman to dispatch one of those... Creatures. But oooh, once she was done --- once she was done, she would get a piece of Eri’s mind ! 

              All she had to do was... Get the words to come out... To provide her lengthy evidence in regards to the harmlessness of the spirits they  destroyed  , to make a compelling case to  spare  them instead of beating them into submission with the hilts of their bizarre blades, and perhaps suggest a change of clothes --- this was  HER  TIME  TO  SHINE  ... ! 

                   ❝ Y-You --- You know, yellow is the new black --- b-black is  so  last season... !  ❞

              Nailed it.  

             Ah  ... This wasn’t right. 

             They weren’t among the living, this she knew for sure --- there was a distinctive haze, one she categorized aside from an aura entirely, that only those lacking a physical (that is, living  and  breathing) body possessed. On the other hand, the peculiar chain --- or in some cases, the nub of one --- all spirits possessed was lacking here. Idly Eri wondered if this being, too, would be the target of those  bizarre  swordmasters... That was a risk she was unwilling to take; after all, they were still in the wrong plane of existence, right ?

              She leaned close as if whispering some sort of secret, seemingly a hiss between her teeth --- after all, she’d learned the hard way (many,  many  times) that she appeared to be talking to herself way too often.

                ❝ You, um --- you shouldn’t  BE HERE  , you know... !  ❞

              Confusion. 

              It hit her abruptly, as if it were a physical entity --- a corporeal mist she had only just then passed through. She knew almost immediately where it had emanated from; even the girl’s aura was difficult to understand, as if it couldn’t quite decide which hue it wanted to settle on. Eri could feel that familiar prickly, tingly sensation  creep  along the back of her slender neck, encasing the very top of her scalp --- her intuition was going haywire, and for what purpose she wasn’t quite sure.

              In a word ? Unsettling.

                   ❝ Ah, hey --- maybe this is a weird question, but... Is everything... Okay ?  ❞

             See  this ? 

             This is the face of a broken woman. 

             She shoves her hands deep in her pockets to still their trembling, and she must have licked her lips roughly five times by now. There was physical intensity, and then there was emotional intensity --- the intensity with which he boxed away his emotions only made them all the more potent (she’d  promised  herself she’d do better at that, to keep her prying senses at bay --- clearly she was learning the  hard  way). The trembling in her voice had nothing to do with anxiety and everything to do with the urge to immediately burst into tears, but she hoped it sounded more like the former. Perhaps focusing on the abnormally lively device in his hands would do some good... 

                    ❝ A-Ah, I’ve --- always wanted one of those. How much d-did it cost you... ? ❞