fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [11/06].

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [11/06].

Shunsui was in a bit of a tight spot at the moment. It would seem that, for whatever reason, whenever one of the freezer or cooler doors in the grocery section were opened, a cascade of basketballs would fall out. On the one hand, he could just spend the whole day hoping no one needed anything frozen or refrigerated, but he knew that was a long shot, so he'd best make the effort to put up a sign warning people, lest he spend even more effort just picking up basketballs all day.

Better yet if they customers could wind up picking up the basketballs themselves, which is why, after some consideration, there was not only a warning sign in the aisles about said basketballs, but also one in the window, and he'd had Apu-san set up a hoop over a large bin.

Welcome to Turtle & Canary!
Free Basketball(s) with any frozen or refrigerated purchase!
♥ ♥ ♥ 20% off entire purchase if you make a basket ♥ ♥ ♥

Sure, it wasn't like it was that hard picking up the basketballs, but it was the principle of the matter. This way, other people would do it for him and they might have a good time with it, too! Everybody won!

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Dango
Dingo
Red

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The clowns had taken up the entirety of Octavia's Wednesday last week, but there was no such trouble happening today, and she had a thing or two she actually needed to buy. How convenient for her and her semi-established routine.

Not to mention her half-assed pretense that consistently showing up at the store on Wednesdays instead of any other day was just a string of coincidences.

"Konnichiwa, Shunsui," she greeted him, with a tiny nod. "Basketballs, huh?"

"Konnichiwa, Octavia-chaaa~aan~~ ♥ ♥ ♥!" Shunsui sang out his greeting in response, beaming so brightly into it that it turned into a chuckle. The grin that lingered after that likely spoiled the full effect of the heavy, put-upon sigh that followed, and he shook his head. "And hai, basketballs."

That last word added to the dramatic shifting of emotions, dropping down into a disparaging rumble.

"They're particularly bouncy ones, too, which makes chasing them sometimes a particular challenge, and I'm almost possitive the cheese panda has been hoarding a few to unleash on unsuspecting dairy customers. Don't suppose you hppen to be in the market for a few ♥?"

Pause.

"...dozen ♥?"

Edited 2019-11-06 13:00 (UTC)

As far as greetings went, apparently that one was exuberant and drawn-out enough to coax a quick smile out of Octavia. One that was still a little dim around the edges, and wholly amused at his expense, somehow, but still.

It tempered itself down pretty quickly, though. "No," she said. "They're not like roses, I can't just go around town giving them to people."

Well, no, she probably could have. She just didn't have any interest in doing it.

"Certainly not with that attitude ♥," Shunsui chided without any real reprimand behind it, just amusement, especially since he would hardly want anyone (who wasn't named Apu) to go through any extra effort that he himself wouldn't want to pursue. Which was to say, pretty much any effort at all. "But you do have a point. A basketball is hardly as lovely as a rose, though there is something to be said about the pleasing roundness of its shape ♥."

But there were far more interesting topics at hand, and the requistite grocery-store sake to be poured.

"And how are you, my dear little dove ♥? Would you care for some sake ♥?"

The cup preceeded the question by a significant margin.

Taking the cup into her hand was as good as accepting it in words, right? Even the question itself was becoming more pointless with each passing time.

Grocery store sake was the expected thing.

"I'm fine," Octavia said, because that was what she always said regardless of whether it was true or not. "It's a pretty quiet week. The biggest I have going on is a tattoo appointment next week." She said 'appointment' like it was a foreign word.

Edited 2019-11-06 13:36 (UTC)

Pointless, perhaps, but it was polite, and Shunsui always hated to be rude...

His smile broadened a little as he poured his own cup. "A tattoo, eh ♥?" he asked, quirking a brow. "What of...?"

But just as soon as he cast the question out, he chuckled and reeled it back in, lifting a hand, shaking it to dispel any lingering remnants of the inquiry. "No, no, no," he retracted, looking terribly pleased with himself for this much better idea, "you musn't tell me. You will simply just have to show me once you get it ♥."

Octavia snorted, softly. "I don't think I would've known how to explain it, anyway," she admitted. That was the thing about abstract designs someone else had come up with. She took a sip from her cup, paused for thought. "But that's it for me and the onsen after this week, for a while. I'm not supposed to soak it while it's healing."

"Mmmmm...♥." Shunsui gave a deep little rumble of a hum, sounding far more thoughtful about it than he really was, as was likely noticeable by the grin and the heart he'd still managed to put at the end. "Then we might just have to get in some good soaking while we still can, neh, Octavia-chan ♥? I think I might be able to pencil a few visits into my busy, busy schedule..."

"Yes," Octavia drawled, "your busy schedule of sleeping and sake in places other than the onsen."

Why be openly pleased when you could mask it with something else instead?

There was certainly nothing being masked in the bright, beaming, even proud smile on Shunsui's end of things as he laughed and then, non-sake hand to his heart, he bowed ever-so-slightly, more shoulders than head to be mindful to not lose his hat.

"My sincerest apologies to the benches in the park and the lounge at Caritas and sometimes the lobby at MHA ♥," he declared, "but there shall be no sleeping and sake, in that combination, anywhere but the onsen from this day forth, up until the fateful day of Octavia-chan's appointment ♥."

Edited 2019-11-06 14:42 (UTC)

"You're ridiculous," Octavia replied, like the corners of her mouth weren't twitching. Her statement tried so hard to be a complaint, and yet it wasn't.

She rested her free hand against the edge of the counter. "But I guess I'll know where to find you."

"That you will ♥," Shunsui agreed, his smile turning wholly sincere and adoring toward her, even with another faint chuckle at the end. "Or, at the very least, the water-wrinkled prune of the man I used to be ♥."

Octavia downed the rest of what was in her cup, then set it down for now, as her hand joined the other one on the edge of the counter.

She ended up leaning forward just a little bit, with more of her weight against her hands.

"Please don't let this turn into a rescue mission."

"Ara, ara ♥," Shunsui said blithely, grinning as he went to pour a little more sake into that cup. Yes, he'd considered the placement of her hands, the placement of the cup, that suggested easily that she was done for now, but, at the same time, he couldn't very well just leave an empty cup! If anything, it would just be there for when she did want more, or simply remain untouched until later, when he himself would get to it. But, once it was poured, he set the sake jug down on the counter beside it as if to put a conclusion to that particular duty for now himself, folded his arms in front of him on the counter and leaned in just a little bit, too.

"Would it really be such a burden to rescue me, Octavia-chan ♥?" he asked, with the smile of someone all too ready to be any sort of burden if the opportunity arrived.

"I think that depends on the situation."

Didn't everything?

Her head tilted, just a little. "You're twice my size, for one thing. You might be a literal burden."

Shunsui considered claiming that he was much lighter than he looked, but he knew that was categorically false, despite his ability to move otherwise.

Besides, why flatter himself when he could flatter her?

"And you, Octavia-chan," he said, "are stronger than you look ♥." He assumed. He didn't have much to base that on, except perhaps a hunch, a feeling, and a familiarity with the type, but it sounded good, truth or otherwise. "Not to mention the fact that people can be capable of incredible feats of strength when caught in a moment of desperate passion...."

He wasn't wrong. Octavia had devoted most of the last four years to becoming as great a fighter as she possibly could, and that was not without its benefits. You needed some strength if you intended to kill people by lobbing a sword at them!

"Just don't make me carry you," she replied, amused. It was faint, but in a way that made it seem private, somehow. "No matter how much you'd like that."

That was also a guess.

She wasn't wrong, and she could probably tell by the grin on his face. "Just think, though, Octavia-chan," he mused, in a teasing voice that knew very well it would be none of the following things, but rather awkward and unweidy and he'd definitely lose his hat, "how sweepingly epic and terribly romantic it would be ♥.

"But it's a deal ♥," he allowed, with a small duck of his head to grant her this bargain. "Should I need to be valiantly rescued from the onsen, I assure you, you will not have to carry me out ♥."

There was a pause, though, the kind that she should be used to from him by now, that guaranteed a bit more, and that the bit more would be just as ridiculous as everything else that had preceeded it, especially when even he was laughing at the idea of it before he managed to get it out.

"You can just roll me to the clinic instead ♥."

Even without his teasing tone, Octavia had enough experience with carrying people to know it was none of those things. But she still enjoyed listening to him claim it could be. There was a lightness to listening to him, just in general. And watching him.

She hadn't realized her lean had gotten just a little more pronounced. Not by a lot, of course, but...

It had, was the thing.

"I can do that," she allowed, with an amused look. "But it doesn't sound like as good a time as actually getting to soak in the onsen." Her pause maybe wasn't as expected as his. It was more of a space for her to decide whether she wanted to add something or not. "With you."

And that was a good addition. That was a very nice addition, and Shunsui liked to imagine that he'd noticed her lean in a little more, especially since he was definitely leaning in a little more himself, much more obviously, just as obvious as the clear pleasure on his face from such a simple pairing of two words.

"I couldn't agree more ♥," he said, low and quiet and warm and, most importantly of all, that was it.

Granted, they were talking about a situation where he would presumably almost drown or meet some other unfortunate fate that resulted in him being bodily rolled from the onsen to the clinic, so this should hardly be surprising, but it was hardly what he'd meant.

It wasn't entirely what Octavia had meant, either.

She'd never been one to feel like every stretch of silence had to be filled with talk, and so, after he'd said his uncharacteristically few words, she was content to let the silence linger for a while. She was still watching him, green eyes keenly taking in the details of his face: the line of his mouth, the stubble, the way that one strand of hair always hung in his face.

The expression on her face was on the softer side of unreadable.

Ahhh, and see, now was a good example of when a rogue strand of persistently dangling hair was incredibly useful, because if Octavia had such a rebellious escapee, then Shunsui could just reach right over then and gently brush it back into its place, where it would surely break free again, but no matter...

And to the outside, they probably looked a bit silly there, didn't they, leaning slightly toward each other over the counter, gazing in pleased, companionable silence? But Shunsui was never one to shy away from appearing silly, especially in the presence of beautiful women.

In fact, he was far more comfortable with being silly than with silence, no matter how pleasant, no matter how companionable, which was why he didn't hesitate for a moment ti reach out for the invisible strand of Octavia's hair that existed only in his imagination and gently brushed it back to join the rest.

"There," he said, just as gentle. "Perfect."

And a moment passed where his own warm smile seemed to hold quite a bit of its own enigmatic nature before tilting slightly into something significantly more familiar.

"Now, don't tell me you've just come in to gaze longingly at my face, Octavia-chan ♥," he added, "though, I assure you, if that is the case, I am more than happy to oblige ♥."

It really was kind of inconvenient that Octavia liked to wear her hair braided away from her face, wasn't it? Or it would've been, without Shunsui's willingness to pretend. And - there it was again, that brief and weird feeling of warmth, just like when he'd fixed her dumb little hat at the party. The expression on her face opened up further, warmed up in a subtle way.

But then the moment passed.

And it was as if Octavia fell back and away from her own face, only leaving her usual neutral mask behind. "I need some leather cord," she said, straightening up a bit. "I don't know if you sell any."

Now that was a shift. Shunsui's head tilted thoughtfully, his grin remaining in place but his closely watching grey eyes softened a bit, as if in apology. "We should," he said. "We sell nearly everything here ♥." Except duct tape, for some long-forgotten and unfathomable reason. "Probably in the crafts section; shall we go have a look ♥?"

Displays of openness didn't come without a price. Not always, anyway.

Octavia nodded. "Yes," she said, her hands finally leaving the edge of the counter. "Thanks."

Apparently not. But Shunsui didn't seem bothered as he himself straightened away from the counter, swiftly grabbing the sake jug before making his way around.

"Tondemonai, Octavia-chan ♥," he sang lightly as he moved. "Right this way, my dear ♥. Don't forget to mind the basketballs ♥."

Octavia was a little bothered, if she was honest. But there was no way of telling, under all the mildness, and anyway, she chose to follow a step or two behind him.

That way, she could watch all that fabric moving with him in peace, unseen.

"Noted."

"Mmmm." Shunsui hummed softly, an acknowledgement to her her acknowledgement. Then, as they got close to where they were going (bigger as it was on the inside, it was still not a very large store overall), he glanced over his shoulder, lifting the jug of sake questioning. "Another ♥?"

Octavia gaze snapped up to meet his glance, but she just shook her head.

It wasn't that she'd meant to fall back into another mode of silence, for the record. It just seemed to be what was coming to her naturally right now.

Withdrawing was an instinct she was still learning to fight.

And that, if Shunsui was not mistaken, was the first time Octavia had actually said no to his sake. He sighed, just slightly, turned a little more her way, and figured that warranted at least one more try.

"It's alright if you left your cup at the counter, Octavia-chan," he said. "I have another."

He was not mistaken.

Octavia suppressed her own tiny sigh, then squared her shoulders a little. Another instinct. "The cord, Shunsui?" she prompted. A little bluntly, maybe, but then there was a beat, and her tone managed to soften somewhat. "You can serve me again when I'm paying, it's fine."

Those grey eyes watched her carefully for a moment more before Shunsui shrugged, gaining a slow, smile, a breath much more a laugh than a sigh, but just barely. "Only if you'd like, Octavia-chan ♥," he said, "but, yes, your cord. Forgive me, it's just so easy for one to get distracted. But if we have them, they should be here."

He gestured toward the shelves, giving them a quick glance before spotting something along the lines what he was thinking, leather cords used for crafting and the like, and reached for one of the boxes. "Ah, yes, there we go ♥. Do you think any of these will suffice for your leather cord needs, Octavia-chan ♥?"

There was something a little stilted about the way Octavia stepped closer for a better look.

(As if there wasn't something a little stilted about her everything, right now.)

She peered over at what was on offer, and her voice dropped half into a murmur. "I just need enough of something that's good for a necklace."

"Ah, well," said Shunsui, his breathy laugh a little stronger this time, "that would depend an awful lot on what kind of necklace, now, wouldn't it ♥? Would we need something thicker and stronger, for say, an amulet or larger pendant? Or are we talking about something a bit...smaller....daintier...?"

Octavia didn't look up.

"You know which one, Shunsui-kun."

The absolutely desert-dry deadpan delivery coupled with that way to address him probably cancelled each other out, somehow. But she was trying to fight back against some of her own unhelpful urges, here.

Edited 2019-11-07 00:23 (UTC)

That desert-dry deadpan delivery coupled with that way to address him just left Shunsui feeling even more confused than he'd already been, just when he thought he was starting to get his footing again, and he wondered if maybe she was just confused about its usage.

But...if she wasn't...

It took him a moment, but he laughed, a full laugh this time, if a short one, but still, a laugh, and he meant it, too, even if she didn't.

"That I do ♥!" he said, and then took a moment to seriously consider the choices before picking out a simple black one, thin but strong, and handed it to her with a bow of his head. "I think this should suffice, Octavia-chan, my dear, but now I can't help but wonder...what happened with the lovely chain that it came with?"

Octavia was a little confused, in life, in general. Just not about that. That was just her recent habit of obscuring her affection with other things making another appearance. For such a straight-forward person she could be awfully confusing on purpose, sometimes.

She accepted the cord, rolling it between her fingers as she shrugged one shoulder.

"Nothing." And for proof, her other hand tugged on the collar of her shirt, and tugged a very familiar chain out from underneath it, complete with its pendant. "I just keep expecting it to catch on something and break."

"Ahhhh, there she is ♥!" said Shunsui, who really couldn't help beaming to see that Octavia had actually been wearing the little present. "Just as lovely as before, if not even more so, considering ♥."

He could tread a bit more lightly on the glowing praise at the moment, but he could barely eschew it entirely.

"Maybe it'd just be a sign if it did, though," he mused. "Some birds just need to be free...but hopefully this makes you feel a little more confident about it...I suppose it suits you a little better, too, Octavia-chan ♥."

"That was the other thing," Octavia admitted, mildly, letting the chain and the pendant drop against the top of her chest so that she could hold the cord with both hands, instead, tugging on it to test how strong it was. "It's too delicate for me."

Everything else about her felt harsh and practical, and the chain had not stopped feeling off over the past couple of weeks she'd been wearing it.

She held up the cord, finally looking up at him. "This is more like what my people on the ground would wear."

Shunsui was thinking a little more delicate might be a good thing for Octavia, but he'd also known more than enough women in need of a little more delicate to know not to actually express that thought.

Also, it was more than enough that she seemed interested in wearing it, even if it didn't suit her, even if he'd explicitly said she really didn't have to...

"Then I'm glad," he said, with his usual pleased, lazy sort of smile, "we were able to find something that works better for you, Octavia-chan ♥. And if not?" He shrugged. "There's plenty more cords on the shelf ♥."

As far as Octavia was concerned, the little dove was delicate enough by itself, whereas the chain stepped over some line into making her uncomfortable. Maybe delicate things read like a sign of weakness, she wasn't sure.

She wanted to wear the dove regardless.

And so she nodded. "Arigato."

After the briefest of moment, Shunsui nodded back. "Yokatta," he said. "Anything else, Octavia-chan ♥?"

Octavia's head tilted just the tiniest bit when the 'tondemonai' she'd expected was something else instead. She didn't know that word.

But she also didn't ask. Just shrugged. "Well, I still need a phone," she said. "Does 'nearly everything' cover that?"

"It certainly does~ ♥!" said Shunsui, beaming into it, then tilting his head in one direction before his body turned to follow it, a swing of his arm beckoning Octavia to do the same. "Only the very basics, of course, but a good variety; it's always hot selling item whenever there's a new influx of people to the island ♥."

He sounded particularly amused by it, as well, because that was definitely a novel little change from the last time he owned the store. Everyone apparently needed these things now.

"And Summer-chan was absolutely rigorous about ensuring we were stocked with all the most adorable, flashy accessories she could find ♥."

All of which he was absolutely certain Octavia-chan would want nothing to do with.

Octavia pretty much tuned out everything past 'adorable', yeah. "I just need the phone," she said mildly, following after him. "Doesn't have to special. I just need it to get texts."

To minimize the annoying discomfort she felt at Rey going home for a bit, but like she was going to say that out loud.

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [11/06].

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