Joel
Departing in the morning was one thing, but having to wait until half noon was another. The hurry up and wait approach was a reminder of his time in the academy and gave him a feeling of gratitude to his own squad for not having to deal with time saving efforts of this sort. Joel didn't like to see it as such, for he knew this was just to prevent people from being late. It was even worse considering that he had never been late due to his speed which was the downfall to being so fast. It didn't keep him from trying to get faster each day, but it was an annoyance none the less. More so because when given an early time to be somewhere, Joel couldn't take his last minute approach of being the final or close to the last person to show up to a gathering.
He crossed his arms and sighed as he stared up at the grey morning sky. The sun hadn't even arose yet, and by the time it did, it would still be awhile before the event actually started. No doubt, the wait was for people to still gather into mixed teams before being forced into ones. Surprising as it was, he had a few stragglers walk past him and ask him if he had a team, most of whom were people he's never seen before, despite his time as a shinigami. He was relieved when the first of his friends came in to save him from the unwanted interactions and though he wouldn't say it, being around them made the wait pass by quicker. It was then he learned that only the people without a team had to show up early, which made him feel bad for feeling so negatively about the ones who talked to him. He had to admit, he wasn't a morning person and everyone in his division knew so. Especially fourth seat Forza, the man who told Joel and the rest of the squad members departing thirteenth to arrive early. No doubt a prank for the first time human world visitors. Joel hadn't seen the others since they left and had a feeling he might not get to see them for a long while. He looked towards the direction of the base area and realized he wouldn't see a lot of them for a while. This brought him both a sense of relief and a hint of sadness. They were like his family after all. How lucky that he'd be able to spend this time away from them with others whom he'd call family. How lucky indeed.
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"47....48....49...........50!"
Joel flopped over to his back, giving his arms a rest and taking a moment to relax his chest. He couldn't believe how weak the Gigai's were in comparison to his non-corporal body. Everything felt different with it on. The way the earth's gravity was more apparent. How he could only do fifty push ups, twenty pull ups, and a hundred sit ups. Even the way his balance felt when he walked. Everything was out of whack. Usually, when he walked he felt light as a feather and he could exercise all day in one muscle group before getting tired. This was even worse than being a child again, he thought. He sat up, wincing and using one hand to grab his stressed chest area and the other to grab his abdomen, which he think he totally destroyed the night before. When he was finally able to relax he curled his legs together and began his breathing training while looking around the room. The humans really did believe in comfort of the mind as well as the body. Joel hadn't even used his bed since being there, seeing as his carpeted floor was so comfortable. He couldn't decide if he'd rather sleep on the patch of grass near the koi pond or sleep on the soft floor lining. It made him especially happy, that he could literally work out, then nap and go to working out again without having to worry about pulling off heavy sheets, or getting away from the clutches of a mattress. He wondered if the mattresses in the human realm were any different from the ones in his. The only one in the room who would know the difference was Jin. Jin was the name Joel's zanpakuto growled out one night. The growl was so slurred, Joel could tell that Jin wasn't all there was too it, but the fact that spirit in his blade was calm enough to try saying something that didn't have to do with eating something meant there was progress happening in their synergy. He looked at the sword that was leaning against his bed thinking about how there wasn't even a peep from it since they've arrived. The man could only hope it wasn't a bad omen.
Joel sprung to his feet, forcefully stepping back while flailing his arms to catch his balance. He was able to avoid the fall and was relieved that none of the others were currently in the room to see his close fail. It was then that he started to wonder where the others had run off to and if they were ever going to get a call to actually do their jobs. He headed to the bedrooms exit to leave and get something to eat when he heard a loud bang sound, followed by a smaller thump and some muffled voices. Joel went back to grab his zanpakuto and a pill of his nightstand just in case.
When he opened the door he could see Kaito down the hall checking out his person. Surely he too was feeling weird in his human prison. Joel sighed and walked towards him thinking to maybe start a conversation, but kept his eyes away until getting closer when as soon as he was opening his mouth, he heard Ryuu call out to them. "Exploring..." Joel repeated under his breath to register the thought completely in his head. 'As cold as it is?' This thing the humans had called winter wasn't something to laugh about and made the young man instantly use his "allowance" to buy heavy hoods and clothes. Kaito seemed to be game, as he had said so himself and Before he realized it, he blurted out, "Sounds fun," He still had his zanpakuto in hand and the pill in his pocket so he believed he was set to leave anyways. There wasn't an excuses not to go and frankly, Joel didn't think he really wanted one. He knew as well as anyone else that you can't just stay in a box exercising all day and night without any interaction. It wasn't good for the psyche. He threw on some really baggy Jeans over the sport shorts he had on and put on long shirt over his t-shirt and then a jacket before throwing a hood jacket over that one. "Ready when you guys are," he said dressed as if the winter holocaust was beginning.