fandomtownies | The Onsen; Monday Afternoon [10/07].

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The Onsen; Monday Afternoon [10/07].

Ahhhhhh, Fandom ♥! Oh, you beautiful, wonderful, amazing island, you ♥! It was days like this that truly reminded Shunsui of why he was drawn back to you again ♥! It wasn't quite a nice as that one time his hat and haori had turned into beautiful (and adoring women), but he himself turning into a beautiful woman was exceptionally lovely.

And Shunsui, of course, was going to treat himself like he would treat any beautiful woman in his company: with the complete adoration and pampering that such a goddess deserved! Which included, among other things, a nice relaxing afternoon in the onsen, where he could not only blissfully relax and perhaps even get in one of his onsen naps before getting back to the utter shameless spoiling of himself, but he could also experience first hand the amusement of how certain things just floated.

He slung his arms over the edge of the pool and tilted back his head a little as he soaked it in and thought about what he should spoil himself with next. New clothes, perhaps? Definitely buying himself a few drinks at the bar. Flowers, of course. Maybe he'd write some poetry, inspired by the radiance of himself...

...mmm, yes. That would be perfect. It was going to be a very busy day! All the more reason to enjoy the relaxation of the onsen now, he supposed.

[[ so, so open! ]]

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Octavia wasn't really familiar with the concept of treating yourself, but between the coffees and now showing up at the onsen, that seemed to be what she was doing anyway. She'd opted for the changing rooms, this time, and so she headed to the pool itself already in her practical bikini.

She also didn't really take note of who else was here before she was already lowering herself in the water - at a respectable, antisocial distance, of course. That was just a reflex, since she'd only noticed someone was there, but not who.

Although once she glanced over, she immediately had a guess.

Shunsui cracked open an eye and lifted his head just slightly as he felt the water of the poor disturbed by the quiet addition of another body, and how could he do anything but skilecat seeing who it was?

"Octavia-chan ♥," he said, in a voice very different than usual but also, somehow, in other ways, not very different at all. "What another wonderful surprise ♥."

"Out of everyone, so far, you are the easiest to recognize," Octavia told him, faintly amused. Even if the context clues hadn't been obvious enough, the form of address would've given it away, so she couldn't exactly call herself a master detective over this.

Also, she shifted closer, because he wasn't a stranger after all. "Hello, Shunsui."

"Well, I suppose I do exude a particular.." A dainty hand danced a little in the air, "undeniable energy ♥."

And it was technically true, too! He just didn't exactly expect Octavia-chan to be picking up on that.

Pleased to see her shift a little closer, if he just so happened to lean a bit more her way, tilting his his head and grin toward her, well, then...

"Hello, my dear ♥," he drawled languidly, "and how has your day been? Feeling a bit more yourself than some others, I take it ♥?"

He wouldn't say himself, exactly, because even though he felt different, he also felt...very much the same.

So far, he seemed the least affected out of the people Octavia had met today, and she was not surprised in the least.

"Patrolled the island, had coffee, now I'm here." Maybe there was something joking about giving such a factual answer to what was essentially a 'how are you?' question. If you knew how to listen for it. "And looking like I always do. So it's an okay day."

Apart from still feeling tired, she'd even mostly got over the effects of the past night's insomnia.

"Very productive ♥!" sais Shunsui, sounding terribly impressed. "I only got up a little bit ago." Surprising absolutely no one. Or perhaps just surprising them that he'd gotten up at all. "But I was thinking to taking myself out to an absolutely sumptuous meal before heading over to movie class, and then perhaps a drink or two at the bar ♥."

Yes, he was essentially planning on...dating himself today. And so far, it had been fantastic.

"Would you care to join me, Octavia-chan ♥? The more, the merrier, after all ♥ ♥ ♥."

That whole plan sounded extremely like him, this was true.

Octavia used her shrug for sinking a little further down into the water. "Well, I don't really have any plans," she said. "The meal sounds appealing, at least."

What could he say? It was impossible for Shunsui to see a beautiful woman and not want to treat her to the world's finest! Even when that beautiful woman was himself. And he had really been delightfully receptive to all his suggestions...

"Then we'll go ♥!" Shunsui decided brightly. "When we're finished here. Are you in the mood for anything in particular, Octavia-chan ♥?"

Octavia shrugged again. She was pretty easy when it came to food: a lifetime of space station rations and then whatever they'd been able to scrounge up on the ground had left her easily pleased by anything with actual flavor to it.

"I haven't eaten from Taste of Thai in a while?" she said. "But I'm not picky."

"Perfect ♥," said Shunsui, grinning over at her, before letting out a blissful sort of sigh and sinking into the water a little more. "They have excellent steamed pork buns, and my day just keeps getting better ♥! And it's only just begun ♥!"

"It's the afternoon," Octavia replied wryly. Yes, even though she already knew he'd only just recently got up. It was more as close as she got to teasing than it was anything else.

"Oh, didn't you know &hearts?" asked Shunsui, with an arch of his brow that could have been considered cool and aloof if not for his grin. "That's the best time to start a day ♥."

"Someone must've forgotten to tell me that," Octavia drawled, but there was a faint, good-natured quality to it. "Because I was already up before the sun was."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk ♥," Shunsui shook his head, clicking his tongue. "But you've got it backwards, my precious cooing morning dove ♥! That's just about the best time to finally go to sleep ♥."

And here was that snort again. But, she was amused. Not in a terribly obvious way, but still.

"What did you call me?"

And with that question, Shunsui's face broke out into a wide grin, and kept growing until it had to turn into a laugh, rich and thick even with his current lighter voice.

"My precious cooing morning dove ♥," he repeated, beaming proudly as his hand gave a bird-like flourish in the air, "who begins her sweet song even before the start of the day ♥." His eyebrows may have waggled slightly. "Pretty good, neh ♥?"

Octavia didn't laugh, but she couldn't help some kind of an amused smirk forming on her face. Also she found she liked the sound of his laugh, even the way it sounded right now.

"That's really unwieldy."

Bear in mind, though, that apart from him the only person who called her anything other than just Octavia was Bellamy, who called her... O.

And literally anything was longer than that.

"Mmmm, so ka ♥?" Shunsui asked, tilting his head back a little with closed eyes and a satisfied sort of smile. "Do you think so? I think it sounds lovely, or perhaps there's something lost in the translation? Perhaps it works better in Japanese? Watashi no kichōna kanashimi no hato ♥ No hajimari no mae demo amai uta o hajimeta hito ♥*...."

Which....no, was probably not any better.

[[*And also a probably a really bad attempt at a proper translation but I support this by pointing out that Shunsui's not a good writer, anyway]]

Probably not, but that didn't mean Octavia didn't enjoy listening to him say it all the same. It was weird, how sometimes the unfamiliar was her enemy and at others, there was an odd sort of comfort to it.

"Now it's unwieldy and I don't understand it," she pointed out. "I know all of one phrase in Japanese, and that wasn't it."

"Well, now," said Shunsui, lifting his head again to crack an eye and a grin over at her, "I simply must know what that one phrase is. I hope it's a good one ♥. And that I might have the chance to teach you even better ones ♥."

"I don't know about good," Octavia replied with a touch of wryness. She had to think about it for a moment, remembering the words. She'd only had it said to her the one time, although she'd looked it up later and committed it to memory.

For what reason, she couldn't say.

"Mata yoroshiku onegai shimasu."

Her pronunciation was far from fluent, but. It was still 'I look forward to the next time.'

Shunsui's smile softened into something wistful, something thoughtful, and he breathed out a small chuckle. "Oh, that is a good one ♥," he mused. "Useful, too..."

Octavia shrugged. "Someone told me that when they were leaving the island."

For her, it was mostly just sad.

Not that she'd say as much.

"Mmmmm." Shunsui's thoughtful little rumble didn't feel as rumbly at that moment, but it also sounded perhaps a bit more inquisitive. He closed his eyes again, sinking a little further into the water as he considered this.

"Japanese," he said, "is an interesting language. I may be biased in thinking so, of course, but it's very...contextual. A phrase like yoroshiku onegai shimasu can actually mean a great many things, given the situation..."

"Such as?"

Sure, she was prompting him so that he'd keep talking, because there were moments she liked being quiet and just listening to someone else.

But she also genuinely curious.

As if it really took much prompting to get Shunsui to keep talking. He gave another soft laugh, shrugging his shoulders a little. "It's difficult to translate it directly into English, but in its most simple form, it's an expression of gratitude, respect, and thanks. It can mean anything from it's nice to meet you to asking for someone's help, expressing honor and pleasure in having meeting them or acknowledging that you are in their debt or that you are counting on them. It's rather formal, though, used with those considered to be a higher station than yourself. We Japanese can sometimes be so particular," said with a drawl where he didn't exactly roll his eyes, but it could be heard in his voice nonetheless, "about perceived social status and being inoffensive and proper....

"It's the mata," he added, gaining a faint grin again, "that makes it so interesting &hearts'. Again....or perhaps next time?...in the context of a departure ♥. Tell me, Octavia-chan....has there been that next time yet?"

"No."

That was pretty blunt, but then she sounded like that half the time anyway.

"He's not coming back." She seemed sure of that. He'd left, he was gone, that was that.

Shunsui hummed again, quiet, thoughtful, and that's all that he had for a long moment, though he moved his hand in the water a little, slowly, making gentle ripples on the surface.

"Then what a curious context indeed," he noted, finally.

Octavia watched the ripples for a moment. Then she closed her eyes and sank a little deeper into the water, low enough that it touched her chin.

"It's just something people say." There were so many phrases like that. Just things you were supposed to say at a specific moment, because it was expected. "But at least my version was 'may we meet again'."

Not that she'd said it English, originally.

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The Onsen; Monday Afternoon [10/07].

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