fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [11/27].

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [11/27].

At first, everything seemed pretty normal in the store that Wednesday. A few more turkeys and other thematically related foods in stock than usual, the panda stood careful guard over his cheese, Turtle-chan meandering around her tank, Canary-chan fluttering in her cage, Apu made sure the floors were good and swept, Shunsui expertly managed to drag about two hours worth of ordering into a full day...

Until he slowly started to notice something.

"Apu-san?" he asked. "What is this music?"

Apu sighed, the long-suffering sigh of a man who had been doing his best to just ignore it. "Christmas music."

Shunsui regarded him with something like suspicion. "....isn't Christmas in December?"

Another miserable sigh. "Yes."

Shunsui knew that things like days and sometimes months could get away with him, so he took a moment to check both the calender and the computer to confirm that it was, indeed, still November. And not even Thanksgiving yet.

"....can we turn it off?" he asked, after realizing that this was probably the tenth time he'd heard this particular song so far that day alone.

This next sound that escaped Apu was the most tortured and resigned soung yet. "No." It was nearly a sob. "We can't."

Which, at the moment, seemed a bit overdramatic, if you asked Shunsui, but give it time. Just wait, until the end of the day, by which point Shunsui would be wondering if anyone had ever used a Bankai to take down a stereo system.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Candy Cane
Sugar Plum
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

[[ welcome to my own personal nightmare; it started on Monday *cries in Burl Ives*]]

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It was Wednesday, and there was an Octavia.

Who stopped about halfway between the door and the counter, her head slightly cocked, and listening.

"Already?" she asked, resigned.

"Already," Shunsui confirmed. He had not entirely grasped exactly what was happening in its full, terrible glory quite yet, but there had been more than enough components presented to him thus far that he was already pouring some sake. Granted, he probably would have already been doing that either way.

"Some of it is lovely," he allowed, because he was developing a few favorites, though they were balanced out by a few he was already beginning to loathe, "but I am beginning to wonder if an entire month of this isn't just a bit..."

What was the word he was looking for?

"...excessive."

You knew it had to be bad when even Shunsui Kyōraku thought you were being a bit much, there, Holiday Season.

But, there were far more pleasant things to address beyond his current building plight, and so he shifted his attention easily to those far more pleasant things, smiling adoringly at her.

"But never mind all that ♥," he said, waving a dismissive hand as if to brush aside all those silver bells and white Christmases. "Hello, Octavia-chan ♥. "How are you today, my lovely little dove? Come have some sake ♥."

Octavia snorted quietly at him of all people calling something 'excessive', yes. But she very much agreed with his assessment.

She didn't smile as she came over to the counter, but her expression was open all the same. "Hello, Shunsui," she said with a tiny nod of greeting. "It's just another day."

If anything, Shunsui had earned the right to call other things excessive; he'd know better than nearly anyone, right?

"Around here, sometimes, that's all we can really hope for, isn't it ♥?" Having set two cups on the counter, Shunsui poured sake into them both, lifting one to hand over to Octavia when she reached the counter, leaning in a little with a face that was nothing but smiles. "But I'd hardly say it's just another day, Octavia-chan ♥. It's Wednesday. That happens to be one of my favorite days ♥."

"Okay," Octavia replied, an subtle amused note creeping into her voice. "Then it's just another Wednesday."

She liked Wednesdays, too.

Maybe she also liked doing just the slightest unnecessary lean in as she reached to take the cup from him, too.

And did Shunsui necessarily have to lean in to meet Octavia with that hand-off? Absolutely not, but one could never be too careful when sake was involved, neh?

"Perhaps," he allowed, "but the day is still young, Octavia-chan ♥." Yes, he knew what time it was. "Good sunrise, at least ♥?"

Sake just called for care. Like taking the cup very gently and carefully. He probably knew to expect the extended brush of Octavia's fingertips against his hand, by now.

"Decent," she said. "The porgs tried to swarm me on the beach, but that's about it."

Shunsui most certainly did expect it, to the point where he'd be a bit sad if it hadn't been there, just as he'd expected she'd be a bit disheartened (though she wouldn't deign to show it, of course) if his own fingers didn't linger with a faint brush back on the slow retreat to find his own cup, too.

"Rambunctious this morning, were they ♥?" he asked. "Or perhaps just eager to come say hello?"

Octavia shrugged before taking a sip. "I think maybe I just smell like food." Or that joining in on yoga with Duke yesterday had convinced them that she, too, should be considered a climbable part of the scenery. "I don't know. They're harmless, anyway."

"Though I'm sure if they weren't," said Shunsui, "you'd have handled it. Though, really, I can hardly blame the little guys," here, as he took up his own up, lifting it a little in a sort of silent toast and acknowledgement, "clamoring for a chance just to be near you, Octavia-chan~ ♥."

And then he had his own sip.

Octavia's lips tilted into a faint, lopsided smirk. "Most other things don't need to clamor."

Things, people, whathaveyou. Regardless, she was perhaps in an easier mood than she had been a week ago.

Just a bit, yes, and Shunsui had certainly noticed, feeling rather glad for it, too, and not just because if things hadn't improved in her mood, he might actually have to start worrying a bit.

"And what a good thing that is," he drawled back, his own grin substantially larger and more crooked. "Clamoring's not exactly my style ♥."

Of course, Octavia's mood was likely to take a small hit once she'd listen to her voicemail at some point later today. But that hadn't happened yet!

She snorted. "No, I can't imagine that," she agreed. "Sounds like more work than you'd like."

"Oh, well," Shunsui's own laugh might have been a faint imitation of Octavia's own, "it isn't a so much the work, Octavia-chan," except that, yes, yes, it was, and that was about as far as he'd argue the point, lest anyone start thinking he would be accepting of anything as odious as working toward something, "as it is that there's just no style to clamoring. No finesse, no poetry ♥."

Octavia still thought it was the work aspect. For the record.

She took another sip and then shook her head, just a little. "There can't be poetry to everything, Shunsui." There wasn't much poetry to anything but actual poetry, if you asked her. But she didn't feel like going that far, here.

"Mmmmm." The rumbling hum had a thoughtful tone to it, a thoughtfulness held while Shunsui took a sip of his sake, the smile on his face all the while suggesting that he really didn't need to think about it much at all.

"Perhaps not," he allowed, having finished his cup and reaching for the jug to pour himself another as he spoke, "but, Octavia-chan....there will be in anything worth doing ♥."

And, having finished his pour, he held up the jug, giving it a little questioning shake, to ask after how she was doing on hers.

Conveniently, Octavia had just drained her cup while he spoke, and so she could hold it out for a refill.

"I don't know if I agree with that." That was no surprise. Still, she added after a beat, lightly (or at least approaching it by other people's standards), "But I think I like that you do."

Shunsui saw absolutely no reason not to preen a little at her little addition, and so he didn't, his grin beaming to the point of a small chuckle as he leaned in a little more to pour her second cup. "You think, Octavia-chan, Octavia-chan ♥?" he asked, his tone light and low and teasing...mostly. "Oh, I think you do like it, which is good, because I like that you do. And I think..." He may have paused, a bit, for dramatic effect; they were talking about poetry, and there was poetry even in the delivery, "that you agree with me more than you realize.

"Unless," added after another faint pause, "this is your way of telling me you're a big fan of clamoring, Octavia-chan ♥."

Octavia watched him as he poured and spoke, something amused in her eyes, but something else, too. Something a little warmer.

Yes, even at being called out on her 'I think' feint. Or maybe even because of it.

It turned a little more wry at that last addition, though. "I'm not," she said. "I wouldn't know what to do with it."

You know, because she was so fantastic at knowing what to do with things, otherwise. As he well knew.

"I didn't think so ♥," Shunsui said, looking terribly pleased with himself as he finished pouring and set the jug aside, went to reach for his own up again without shifting too much of where he was. Pleased not so much for the agreement with the last point, but more for the lack of disagreement with the one right before it. "It hardly suits your style, either."

He may still be trying to figure out exactly what that style actually was, but he felt he'd gotten close enough to know that wasn't it.

Octavia was still trying to figure that one out for herself, too. Often it was easier to spot the things that didn't suit her than the things that did.

"And like I said," she continued, "it's not like there's a need for clamoring. Because it's not like I'm used to people wanting to be near me in the first place." Not very used to it, anyway.

"Not yet, perhaps," Shunsui allowed in a musing, almost indulgent sort of tone. "I can't imagine it'll be long at all before you've got no choice but to get used to it ♥."

As if he didn't already suspect she was getting used to it, just very much in her own time while pretending or denying that she wasn't, which was, in his experience, exactly suited to her style.

"I guess," Octavia replied with a predictably vague shrug. "It's taken a while to get to a point where even a yet seems like it's... relevant."

What a difference it made when you started living a little less like a hermit, after two years.

"Some things take time," Shunsui responded with a small shrug of his own, but, then again, she was talking to someone to whom two years could seem like merely a blink, hardly any time at all. "But it is relevant...neh, Octavia-chan ♥?"

A simple yes or a no just wouldn't do, so instead, Octavia said, "Guess I've ended up having people."

Which actually covered both sides of the weirdness of it all: not just feeling like there were people who specifically wanted to be around her, but also feeling she wanted to be around specific people.

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