Self Reward

Several sets of eyes looked up from their food and drink as the door swung open and a shadow darkened the entrance way to the open bar space. The glances were followed by whispers, the name of the newcomer well known all over Plant and most likely beyond by now. Kinoko looked up from the glass she was cleaning from behind the bar at the arrival, that lopsided scar giving off the impression of a smirk until one took a look at her eyes. She recognised him of course, but from the stories told he seemed less impressive in the flesh. Just another Saiyan, strong sure, how strong though she couldn't say. She'd given up wearing a scouter years ago and had never learned how to sense the strength of others, but she knew that look of confidence. You didn't walk around with that air of confidence on this planet unless you knew you could back it up. A small movement, nothing really unless you were looking for it stopped the mountain like woman from walking over and she went back to serving the tables from the tray she held in one hand, eyes flicking over to him every so often but doing as she was told.

When he took his seat the older greying Saiyan woman nodding a greeting, setting the glass down carefully on the smooth polished bar surface.

"I thought you'd be taller from all those tales that get told."

She shrugged as if a living legend hadn't just stepped in from the dusty streets and taken a seat at her bar, raising an eyebrow when the gold currency hit the counter top with a chime. She didn't move to retrieve it, simply picking up another glass to clean. The whispers were still there behind his back but quieter now as nothing seemed to be happening. What they'd all expected was anyone's guess, but THE Lottus just sitting looking at a menu there was likely not it. When things didn't suddenly explode many of them slowly went back to their own conversations, some in more hushed tones than before as they tried to listen in, while others simply ignored the newcomer and went back to their meals. Only a few of the younger Saiyan's still kept looking up, hoping to see something they could boast they were first hand witnesses too.

Kotsuzui was moving around the room from table to table, collecting what was owed and dropping off plates of steaming stew and meat from the big window that looked into the steam filled kitchen, pots bubbling away and the smell of cooking meats drifting out into the common area. The top of a small white hat was just visible above the window ledge as plates appeared, shuffling round at speed from counter to oven to hob, never seeming to stop. The big woman seemed to smile at something through the window, threw a steam white sphere into her mouth with a satisfied lip smacking sound and then hoisted the tray up and moved back to serve the tables.

"Table"

Kinoko looked up at the big man sat over the counter top from her, barely reaching his chest, a curling lip on the other side of her face this time as she held his gaze for just a moment, satisfied in herself it seemed.

"No food on my bar, no exceptions, you wanna eat you get a table."

She nodded past him to the empty table behind where he'd taken up his perch on the bar stool, deft hands sorting through the gold he'd dropped on the table, sliding what she didn't take back to him, tapping her fingers on the heavy off world wood.

"I work for a living boy, you wanna make donations there's an orphanage round the corner that could do with the help."

The empty glass spun in her hand as she placed it down onto the top, other hand pocketing the currency and slipping under the counter, coming back up with a glass bottle that seemed to be damaged or distorted with some unseen heat that radiated from the liquid within. Her thumb flipped something on the top of the bottle and she twisted the bottle in her hand, pouring the reddish brown liquid into the glass. As it left the nozzle the Fire Water burst into flames, looking like a stream of fire raining from the bottle and filling the glass to the brim, the red tinged flame dancing across the surface. She looked at it for a moment, flipped the catch on the bottle again, wiped the bar down with a cloth that seemed to appear in her hand and slid the drink over to him. Kinoko tapped a small device that was sat in her ear as she repeated the order and nodded again.

"15 minutes, that table when your ready."

With that the gruff bartender moved on down to the bar to another patron that had finally bottled up the courage to come up and be heard. As the older woman was moving away there was a commotion from the side door at towards the rear of the bar room, the thing swinging open, its hinges groaning, the weight of it slamming into the wall behind almost tearing it off.

"Business to attend to? BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO?!"

Jagaimo stormed barefooted across the floor towards where Lottus sat, shoulder bare in the vest she sported for most of her training these days, the loose pants she acquired on Namek completing the outfit. Her bare skin was glistening with sweat and dust stuck to her, falling from her clothes as she stomped through the bar. She'd sensed something approaching from across the district but had been to distracted by her own exercises to fully concentrate on it until she realised who was sitting in her bar here and now. A whole flood of emotions had welled up inside her as she'd practically ripped the door off its hinges and seen him sat there.

"You stupid selfish son of a bitch! I helped them kill you!"

Her trailing hand grabbed an empty chair from the table of a surprised couple of Saiyan's, dragging it quickly across the floor with her with a grinding sound and in a few steps she was within reach of her intended target, the turmoil of emotions rising in a short frustrated scream as she swung the heavy piece of furniture like a makeshift club right into the middle of the mans back. The force of the blow would have killed most of the Palace guard. Lottus wasn't most of the Palace guard. She doubted he'd even notice anything short of a battle cannon going off in his face with the power he radiated but like many times before, her body was reacting before her brain had figured out if it was a good idea or not...it just felt like the right thing to do in that moment. The wood like material exploded in her hands against the breadth of his upper back and she glared at him from behind...fingers clenching into fists as the splinters clattered against the hard stone floor.

The sound of glass tinkling across the bartop was the only sound for a split second before the chair Lottus was sitting on scrapped backwards on the floor and the big Saiayn sighed audibly as he stood. Kinoko was about to say something, her mouth opening for a moment until a glare from Jagaimo shut it for her, the older Saiyan givingt the bar a cusery wipe with the cloth in her hand before she shifted slowly away, suddenly finding bottles at the far end of the bar that needed organising. The big woman across the barroom had turned at the sound but the slight shake of Kinoko's head made her keep back, heads turned all around the room to look at the scene that was unfolding right before their eyes. This slight whip of a Saiyan had just smashed a chair over the back of a warrior who would likely go down in legend without any sign of provocation. Hands clutched drinks as the onlookers waited with baited breath for the violence to unfold. 

The smaller Saiyan's hands slowly unclenched as the larger fighter turned to face her, towering over the young woman by more than a head, forcing her to tilt her head back to look up into his face. Angry flashes across her face as the big lump looked at her blankly for a moment before that wild grin split his face. Jagaim punched him in the gut as he threw his head back and laughed, hiding the wince behind clenched teeth as her knuckles impacted his core. She may as well have punched a wall for all the flex she found there, flexing her fingers as she pulled her hand back.

The young woman was shaking her head, suddenly jumping forwards and wrapping her arms round the big mans neck in an awkward hug, her feet dangling in the air,

"Of course it bothered me! Killing a friend should never become easy! I should have tried to stop her, executing you like that i mean...you deserved better!"

She let go of him and dropped to the ground, adjusting her hair with a slight coughand looking away before turning her attention away andtapping the bar top with a finger, her veteran bar tender already reading what she needed too, two more glasses of Fire Water poured before Jagaimo could hop onto the seat beside the man who's name was known across Plant for a few dark days. Kinoko placed them on the bar with a polite chuckle and then stepped away again, leaving the two of them to their words.

"We can't all be heartless killers like the legendary Lottus now can we?"

The small Saiyan passed her hands through the reddish flame that danced over the surface of the drink before she picked hers up and threw it back, inhaling sharply and letting the heat radiat through her body, hand flipping the glass and slamming it upside down on the counter top out of habit more than anything else, her eyes moving up to the mans face, trying to get a read there.

"I've been doing ok I guess...I'm not dead yet which is a bonus...and this place...the old owner didn't need it anymore."

She tapped the top of the glass waiting for Kinoko to come back with the bottle, motioning for her to leave it this time as she flipped the glass over again and poured herself a burning refill.

"What in the Hells Lottus? Your back now to what? Level Salada?"

    If Lottus had been expecting anything - it was NOT to be hugged. The shot at his gut, certainly - but a hug?? The Saiyan was genuinely taken by surprise, eyes wide and brows shot high. He frowns at Jagaimo as she speaks, squeezing her arms around his neck like he'd been a long missed friend. She let go and dropped back to the floor, leaving Lottus fully perplexed to say the least. Two more glasses of the drink Lottus ordered were made and sent to them, and Jagaimo seemed to get comfortable.

    Rather than sit, Lottus shook his head and leaned on his elbow against the bar top.

    "You should learn to be." Lottus says, pointing at Jagaimo. "Ruthlessness is not a failing - and it's the only way you can put an end to a threat. Well, unless it's me, but that's neither here nor there... A Saiyan should be ruthless - why call ourselves a warrior race, if we become so averse to the reality of waging war?"

    Lottus picks up his drink, and finally gets to savor it. It burned wonderfully going down. His enjoyment of it, however, doesn't stop him from coughing. He'd scarcely ever had opportunities to drink certain things, so his tolerance was questionable.

    "Kahhh... Good stuff..." Lottus remarks, setting the glass down. "No, I'm not here to level Sadala. Not right now, at least. I'd rather see how far Taori is willing to go to keep me available as a weapon for the Kingdom. But, there's no strings on me - I'm free to come and go as I please, so long as I don't cause Plant any immediate issues."

    At that point, the doors open, and a familiar silhouette appears in the door frame. A voice rang out, and Lottus barks a one note laugh. It was that Demon he'd met in Hell.

    "Well, if I'm not King Shit on Crap Mountain - today's the day for familiar faces!" Lottus laughs, straightening his posture and turning to Zerori. He grins as she enters the pub, and heads for the bar - unperturbed by the leers she was sending his way. Most people he defeated in combat tended to harbor hard feelings - assuming they survived him in the first place. When she speaks of Family Business, Lottus frowns and looks at Jagaimo. "You got Demon blood I don't know about?"

---

King Shit would more or less suit you, Zerori would think to herself upon hearing Lottus’ overly amused exclamation upon seeing her approach. After her request to the woman to ask a few questions was met with confusion and a polite request for an explanation, it took her a few seconds to compute why they were confused. The woman she could understand but Lottus? Unless… he just didn’t know, either. In all honesty, she had to figure out who the ‘cousin’ was from Zuqetta’s extremely brief mention of them and the clues associated to realize that Lottus’ reputation as a ‘Planet Exterminator’ was more than just legendary.

The call of ‘order up’ had Zerori turn her head in the direction of the huge bowls that had appeared in the little window. Seeing as most of the other patrons already had food at their table, Zerori made an educated guess and turned back to the both of them with a smirk on her face. “An explanation - I can do,” Without giving much more than that, however, Zerori would raise a hand and snap her fingers.

From the window before anyone could get to it, the bowls and meat platter would float upward and sway just a bit as they rhythmically made their own way to where Lottus sat and plop themselves down in a rather orderly fashion. To add insult to injury to what would no doubt confuse the Saiyan, Zerori would materialize a bottle of Infernal Spirits from Hell and set the bottle between the two of them before taking a step back to jeer cruelly at Lottus.

“Before I do, though, I wanted to make sure that my closest and dearest only Cousin was as comfortable as possible,” The amount of venom dripping from her words would indicate just how much the opposite she felt about him. “Right, Lottus?” If her ire wasn’t obvious before, it would become so as nearly every bit of flame in the bar would flare to a dangerous height as if doused in acetylene before returning to normal. She let her words digest a little before she provided an explanation that only Lottus would understand. “My little sister, Zuqetta, let the beans spill just recently.” Her eye narrowed, with a snarl on her lips, “Imagine my surprise.” To the only innocent one between the two of them, Zerori gave Jagaimo an apologetic look, "It's a long story but, please, enjoy the bottle in return for ruining your reunion with your-...?" She trailed off, not trying to guess their relationship and make a fool of herself.

Jagaimo had landed lightly when she slipped off the barstool, studying the both of them watching the exchange with some interest. In all honesty she knew very little about Lottus save what he himself had told her in their last meeting and the few things she'd been able to glean on her own by piecing stories together. To find out so suddenly that Zuqetta was the cousin of Lottus? That was surprising to say the least. To find out that power house of a woman was related to the demon that was now stood in her bar, and by blood no less. Well that almost made her jaw drop. Lottus and Zuqetta were related somewhere by blood and this person was his cousin as well. The stranger seemed to seethe a little but the big Saiyan at her side appeared to find the whole situation amusing, his laughter loud and strong.

The floating food had brought the sound of distressed squeak from the kitchen and the clattering of pans...followed by some loud swearing, but Jagaimo watched the display with a mixture of joy and surprise. Magic had always fascinated her but she herself had discovered little way to learn such skills or even discover if she had any kind of aptitude. When the woman looked at them both and cut her sentence short regarding them she punched Lottus in the shoulder as he spoke up, almost spilling the glass he'd poured himself while she took a seat at the table, sliding one of the steaming stew bowls her way.

"Of course I'm a friend you big lummox! Even the Legendary Super Saiyan, needs a friend from time to time you know!"

Her voice change pitch and deepened as she made fun of all the star struck soldiers she'd heard talking about having seen Lottus in one form or another. He was still the same unstable nut job whether he was glowing gold or not. It didn't mean they needed to revere him just because he figured out how to change his hair colour before anyone else did. She punched him again in the arm for good measure right before he drained his drink. It was still like punching a wall but she took some delight in almost making him spill the drink.

When they began to talk she picked up the bottle and sniffed the open top. For something that had just appeared out of thin air it certainly smelt real, and the bottle felt heavy and warm in her hand. Lottus seemed to have enjoyed the taste so it likely wasn't going to kill her...she had to admit she was curious as to what a drink from the otherworld might actually be like. So like any good Saiyan she faced the challenge head on and poured herself a glass, watching the liquid swirl and settle in her hand as the other two spoke. The big Saiyan beside her seemed to think it was a blessing to have the the blood of demons and Saiyan's...was that a it of jealousy in his voice? Surely not...respect? Maybe. Even with him so relaxed Jagaimo could sense the other woman wasn't so much at ease. The ire and anger was practically rolling off her, and the young Saiyan swore she could see a scorch mark on the ceiling from her earlier outburst.

"So Zuqetta, Lottus and you are what...all one big happy family now? If your from Hell in the Otherworld how are you even here?" 

She gave the drink a sniff and then shrugged, throwing it back in one with a cough and a scrunching of her eyes, before nodding to Lottus.

"And you...Demon's in Hell? Thats how you spent your time after Amara killed you? How the Kai's did you even come back from that?"

It wasn't a surprise to her that the Otherworld existed, she'd been there herself, she knew at least of it...but not how it worked or what much of it even meant, just that there were ways to travel between them...and come back from the dead even it seemed. Lottus was proof of that, Amara had been proof...although after what the big guy stuffing his face beside her had done in his life it amazed Jagaimo that he had been allowed to return at all.

She threw a look at the large Saiyan when he suggested he could kill someone for her.

"I'll admit that does have me curious as well...you seem pretty worked up...are you here to try and kill him?"

    Lottus snorts in amusement when Jagaimo punches his shoulder - well twice. Each time elicited a loud SMACK, but it didn't hurt any. She hadn't meant it to, at any rate. He openly laughed at the question about a happy family, but Zerori answered first. At Zerori's threats, the Saiyan just shakes his head and tears off another chunk of meat from a large bone of Saiba-Rex ribs.

    "My family is dead. They died a long time ago." Lottus says, almost casually. Still chewing, Lottus holds up a hand, ticking off each finger. "My brother Cavolo - killed assaulting a Tuffle fortress. Got torn apart by their turrets. Korun - my other brother, died in the Saiba Wastes on the front lines. My eldest sibling, Pahira - she died when she got gassed by a Destron bomb."

    Lottus ticks down three fingers.

    "My mother defended me from my father when he got particularly hammered, and decided I'd make a fun toy to smack around. He broke her neck for it. And lastly, I killed my father with a nice little knife." Lottus says, looking at Zerori. "Potate, my uncle, was just as worthless as my father. He likely heard about what happened - and he never came looking. You and Zuqetta came into the picture within the last year - we share blood, and a bloodline. That's all you two are to me."

    Lottus leans back in his seat, regarding Zerori for a moment.

    "You can't threaten me with anything meaningful." he adds, grinning. "There's nothing you can do that's worse than what I've already dealt with. You're welcome to try though, it might be amusing."

    Lottus looks over at Jagaimo.

    "Even if she were here to kill me," Lottus looks at Zerori, "She knows she can't. Not yet, at least, otherwise all this bluster would have been saved for after the fight. Now then... Here, take a rib and cut the attitude - I'm here to relax."

---

    Clearly, Zerori had had quite enough of the conversation, and makes herself scarce. Whether this was to avoid a confrontation Lottus was preparing to deal with, or because she'd simply heard enough and wanted nothing more from this interaction, the Demon turns away and seems to leave. She could return, should it fancy her interest, but for now, Lottus turns his attention back to Jagaimo, whom had just ordered more food - probably having done so to keep everyone occupied and avoid a fight. She had her own remarks to say.

    "Yes, actual Hell. It's not that bad - barely even something I'd call a punishment, really." Lottus tells her, finishing off the meats he already has before guzzling down the remainder of his soup. He thumps the thick bowl down on the table and heaves a pleased sigh. "And I'll tell you now - everyone tried to make it out like some big secret, but the process is pretty simple."

    Lottus grins at Jagaimo.

    "The fun part was blasting my way into some Demon King's little fort. Turns out, Demons can live in Hell, obviously, but they can be killed there too." Lottus explains, sounding amused. "I got my hands on the Demon King, Lord, or whatever he called himself, and convinced him to tell me how to move from Hell, back to the Living worlds. The process itself was fairly easy - it was just a waiting game. Four, six, maybe eight months if you aren't motivated - and your soul becomes more prepared for being reborn. Your soul gets basically recycled - cleansed of memories, experiences, everything that makes you you, is gone. Then your soul is transferred back to the Living Worlds and you're born as someone else. Or - the other option - your soul just stops existing. That's more of a choice, by the sound of it."

    Lottus smiles as more food is dropped on the table right after the empty dishes are whisked away. The Saiyan wastes no time digging in.

    "The trick is resisting the rebirth - and forcing your soul to stay intact. For me, I had the Demon King bring me to a location that he personally uses to travel between Hell and the Living World - and then I snapped his neck! HA!!" Lottus laughs, and then tears off a large chunk of meat. He waits to speak again until after swallowing the well made food. "I had to literally smash my way through, but I made it work. And now that I know the process - what do death threats mean to me, other than the promise of a glorious battle, and a nice little vacation afterwards?"

    Lottus chuckles.

    "So, aye - I'm not invincible, and I'm not a God - but I am impossible to get rid of for too long." Lottus continues. "It's a Saiyan's dream - an eternity of combat! As for humility - I don't know what you're expecting. There will always be someone stronger, as you say, and when I find them, either I'll kill them, or they'll kill me - and then I have a new goal to reach and surpass! HA!"

    Lottus downs the rest of his drink. He reaches into a pouch and slams down several gold coins, after Jagaimo had mentioned a tab.

    "These are fairly heavy, so I'll leave it to you to figure out their worth." Lottus grunts, but still grins.

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