fandomtownies | Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [01/29].

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [01/29].

Shunsui absolutely loved the mortal realm, which is why he frequently preferred to be here rather than the Soul Society, but then there were days like this where things happened that were just so morbidly facinating and awful that he wasn't entire sure about those feelings anymore, nor could he really determine whether it was a mortal realm thing or merely a Fandom thing.

"Yes, Apu-san," he murmured once his diligent little grocery wage slave tried to defend his actions, "it certainly does seem like that is the intention, but that doesn't necesarrily makes it a good idea. Summer-chan hasn't been sharing her pot with you or the Squishy Machine, by any chance, has she?"

Apu just rolled his eyes and decided to ignore Shunsui and all his (in Apu's opinion) misplaced judgement, and continued to take one of the Squishy flavors and 'dip' it into the other Squishy flavors before taking a sip, an action that almost made Shunsui wonder if some souls deserved Hollows.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Corn Chips
Salsa
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

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Octavia showed up in the afternoon, looking like she hadn't slept. Because, funnily enough, she hadn't! Not really, anyway, not in any kind of a restful or continuous kind of way that would've actually counted.

She was trying to put a non-exhausted face on it, but not very successfully. You couldn't really mask dark circles under your eyes with just forcing an alert expression onto your face, anyway.

Even her voice felt heavy with it. "Hey."

Why was she even here?

So that Shunsui wouldn't have to suffer Squishy abominations all by himself?

But such aboninations were swiftly shuffled out of his mind the moment he saw Octavia, and there was no hesitation in pouring the sake that he felt would have to immediately follow his greeting without any other pretense or discussion involved.

"Octavia-chan," he said, watching her carefully as he held the cup out. "You look like you've had better days. And nights. And weeks...."

If she didn't mind him saying so.

Much like the bourbon last night, Octavia didn't really feel like having sake right now.

And much like she had with the glass last night, she accepted the cup anyway, feeling a little too raw for rejections. Or maybe because she needed the ritual of hands brushing against each other.

"Didn't sleep well," she said, knowing that much was probably obvious.

Shunsui hadn't actually been expecting any particular brushing of fingers, really, or at least not any that were intentional or ritualistic, so the fact that there had been was...good, he felt. It felt like a good sign.

"Mmmm." It came out as a deep, thoughtful hum, along with a faint, soft smile, as he looked down to carefully, methodically pour himself a cup as well. "Now that is a shame. You know how I feel about a good sleep, Octavia-chan..."

He set the jug aside, lifted his eyes back to her thoughtfully. "Anything you need?" he asked, and his smile took on a slightly apologetic tilt. "You can have free range of the office if you need. You know I'm always extolling its incredible nap-related qualities ♥."

Octavia huffed out a dry and rough sound that might've qualified for a joyless laugh if you really pushed your interpretation that way. "I don't know what I need."

She needed people to not be so broken, and the multiverse to not be so thoroughly messed up, but neither of those things could be found in a grocery store. Not even one run by a Shinigami. Especially not?

And anyway, she hadn't sifted through her thoughts enough to have pinpointed those needs all that clearly to begin with.

Well, there was hardly anything new about that.

Shunsui let out another soft, thoughtful sound. "Well," he said, "perhaps, between the two of us, at least we should be able to figure out something, neh, Octavia-chan ♥? Maybe we can start by eliminating a few things we know you don't need...For example..."

He gave a withering look toward the Squishy machine.

"A chips and salsa Squishy...."

Or, he figured, to not be alone right now, or else she really wouldn't have come, so sending her home with orders to rest and a pint of ice cream was out of the question.

"But I think I will start," he added, "with a chair," and swiftly rearranged himself and a few other things behind the counter to produce one for her and gesturing toward it. "If you're going to be exhausted, you may as well be comfortable, hato."

Octavia gave about half a second's worth of thought to declining the offer, clearly more out of habit than anything else, judging by how fast she was to dismiss it.

She was careful with her still untouched cup as she moved, but she sat down on the chair a little more heavily than she would've usually.

"Mochof, she muttered. Maybe the context would translate it to the thanks it was or maybe it wouldn't.

Context and tone carried that one a long way, yes, so Shunsui was fairly confident that he'd gotten it right with his own response, but, of course, even if he hadn't, he would have forged forward with it all the same.

"Tondemonai, Octavia-chan~ ♥," he said, the usual sing-song of it quite a bit muted and softened as he leaned his back comfortably on the counter. "Ashi no jūryō mo kakaru to, kata no jūryō ga karuku narimasu ♥."

And, with that, he took a sip of his own cup.

"I don't suppose," he ventured, "it's anything you'd like to talk about, is it, hato?"

Octavia didn't even try to listen for anything she might recognize beyond tondemonai, but there was something oddly soothing about just listening to him speak for the length of a sentence without understanding a word. Just letting the sound of his voice wash over her.

Perhaps predictably, she shook her head at the question, though only barely. "I don't think it's really for me to talk about."

"Ahhh," Shunsui breathed out, a considering sound, an understanding one, thoughtful. A lot packed into just three small sounds "so ka. And, usually, that means, not really much for you to do about it, either. At least, for the time being..."

He let that linger there for a moment, not really expecting a response from her, anyway, before he asked, "Something else, then, Octavia-chan, to talk about or to do, in the meantime? You have my absolutely undivided attention, if you want. Or," and here he grinned a bit, "absolutely none of it, if you prefer. I'm sure I can go find something to occupy myself with ♥."

Surely, she'd know he truly meant it if he was actually offering to go find work to do so she could have some quiet.

Of course, it wouldn't be strenuous or important work, or any nonsense like that, but still!

With her gaze turned floorwards, Octavia shook her head again, though this time it looked less like refusal and a little more like she was just trying to shake something off. She didn't know what she wanted.

But, then...

Tell me a story. About the Ground, or -- one of your myths.

She looked up again, and there was something almost hopeful, almost imploring, about her eyes. "Can you tell me about where you come from?"

"The Soul Society?" Shunsui's brows lifted toward a slight furrow, because there were very few things he'd rather talk about less, but with that expression on Octavia's face, he was hardly going to say so. So the furrow smoothed out and he smiled over at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"They actually don't like for us to talk about it," he began, the lightness of his tone suggesting that he was going to ignore that and talk about it anyway, "in the mortal realms, like it's supposed to be some big secret. But, then again, they don't like for us to spend more time that we have to in the mortal realms, and you can see for yourself just how close I keep that to my heart ♥.

"But, in my world, it's basically where souls go after they die. Not all souls, but most. Some stay on Earth, usually because of unfinished business or something particularly strong tying them to those still living, or some, usually those with exceptionally traumatic deaths, become what we call Hollows, who will then attempt to feed on the innocent souls left behind. That's where we Shinigami come in, to guide the lost souls into the Soul Society and to slay Hollows before they get to them first.

"Soul Society itself is actually not much different from Earth, either," he added mildly, "except for the fact that it's lacking quite a bit of the modern advances and technologies that humans have developed over the centuries, thanks to the whole thing being run by souls who have been dead for thousands of years and are very stuck in their ways. Or, even worse, by those who were never human in the first place and were born into the Soul Society. We call those True Souls, and they tend to be the most powerful among us."

And that, he figured, was a pretty good starting point. If anything, it should provide enough of a distraction from whatever was on Octavia's mind, even if that distraction was wrought from simple, good old-fashioned what-the-fuckery.

After last night, Octavia didn't have enough energy left for going 'what the fuck' at much of anything. And anyway, she'd grown up on Greek myth: tales of powerful, ancient beings living beyond the regular human realm but meddling in its affairs all the same.

And even after she'd figured out they were just stories (and that stories were all she was getting, because she would never ever get to walk the hallways of the Ark or meet anyone or do anything), something had stuck with her. Like a hope that something like them was true for someone, somewhere, if not for her.

So.

She listened intently, her posture relaxing - just a fraction but still. "So maybe no cellphones, huh?" she asked softly, knowing she should say something, prompt him a little.

Maybe show him he didn't need to tell her about the very serious things, right now.

"No cell phones," Shunsui had a soft laugh at that, appreciative that of anything she could have said after that, it was something that was easy, and his grin went crooked in a very familiar way. "Something maybe to keep in mind, Octavia-chan, the next time I'm summoned back for a spell and you haven't heard from me ♥."

His tone was mostly teasing.

"Don't worry, though. We have other methods of communication, and I think you'll actually rather enjoy it ♥."

Now that he knew that she'd even particularly care.

"I hope, however, that it won't need to be an issue again for a very, very long time..."

Octavia's sudden, shuddery inhale around 'next time I'm summoned back' was maybe a little... conspicuous, and not even related to him, really, she just had a raw nerve happening right now. About this weekend, about something that would probably have been more fine without yesterday's everything.

She tried to play it off, and push forward.

"What kind of methods?"

It was a bit difficult to avoid tripping over raw nerves when one was generally dancing in the dark, unfortunately, and when one had to have the utmost attention to catch even the slightest of hints.

Luckily, Shunsui was incredibly well-versed and adept at both those things, and usually very good at hiding that fact, though the considering pause he gave before responding might have given him up a little, before another smile fully bloomed.

"I would tell you, Octavia-chan," he said, "but I'd rather it be a surprise ♥. I know, I know," he waved a hand a little, "you're not a big fan of those, but I know that you know that I do love doling them out. We may just have to compromise on that, neh ♥? It involves reiatsu, though, spiritual energy, as most things we do will. That thing with my swords that I showed you, where they change their shape? That's reiatsu, too. It's harder to use here, than back home, but not by much."

Not when you were Shunsui Kyōraku, anyway.

"You're a tease, Shunsui," Octavia said, but didn't manage to hit much of a light tone, let alone anything approaching playful.

She just sounded tired.

But she finally sipped her sake, and rubbed her free hand over her eyes.

And hearing it in that tone wasn't easy, but it wasn't anything exactly unfamiliar, and it tempted Shunsui to just go and show her now, but it seemed like it would be such a waste, considering he doubted she would even be able to apprectiate it right now.

Or he'd wind up tripping again, and making things worse.

"I'll be sure to alert the squirrels right away," he said mildly, with a faint smile to match. "I'm sure they'll be eager to get their paws on such breaking news..."

But...it also wasn't easy to look at her and see her so exhausted and dejected and knowing that he probably wasn't doing much to help, though he tried, and though he felt that anyone who knew him even a little bit should know better than to rely on him for anything, and yet...

He considered a few choices, for a moment.

"I think," he ventured, "I've been going about this all wrong, Octavia-chan. Reiatsu is far too interesting. What I should be telling you about are things like the Central 46 and the Gotei 13 and all the other terribly boring adminitrative and technical stuff that makes the Soul Society run, so you'll have no choice but to slip into a reluctant slumber just to escape the sheer tedium. That always works wonders for me, anyway, especially once we bring in words like adminstrative meeting or accodring to Edict Blah-Blah-Blah..."

"I don't really care what you talk to me about," Octavia admitted, trying to force a little more life into her voice, because she knew -- no, she felt like she should've been making more of an effort to conceal what a tired, worn down wreck she was right now.

But she wasn't all that successful. Her voice stayed a rough, quiet murmur.

"I just like listening to you."

And a statement like that was a very effective way to get the walls that Shunsui had slowly and systematically started constructing that he was only even vaguely aware he'd been building because it was just so habitual at this point to start crumbling before they'd even gotten too high.

He softened, quite a bit, and offered her a faint smile, though he still had to bat back the nagging urge to just tell her to go to bed already out of the back of his mind.

"Then if it's all the same to you, Octavia-chan," in the truest sense of the words, "I'd like to suggest a topic that's not the Soul Society, as I hardly find it a pleasant subject to discuss."

After all, even her beloved gods of Ancient Greece rarely deigned to stay put aloft their home on Mount Olympus.

"Might I suggest something a bit lighter? More enjoyable?" The bright and airy cushion of a forcefield rather than a sturdy wall, perhaps? "There's no lack of subjects to which I could speak at great length. Like poetry, maybe ♥? Or my book. Would you believe I was actually thinking of working on it today?" He did not expect her to believe it, even if it was true, and he'd just been distracted by how terrible Apu was. "Because of a poem that I was thinking of, no less. Would you like to hear it?"

He thought about just telling her, and not asking at all, but if he was going to be dancing in the dark, he'd much rather it be with a partner than by himself, no matter how distracted or exhausted or disinterested the partner may be.

Octavia had already been in two beds today, anyway. Neither had done her any good.

She nodded.

"Tell me."

There was an actual tone to those two words: they were soft.

Which would have been an excellent time for Shunsui to point out that an office wasn't a bed, but that hardly mattered when that route remained just a mere convention of the hypothetical narrative.

He nodded a little back, sipped at his much-neglected sake, and said, "It's a haiku, a style of Japanese poem that plays on the use of syllables, only three lines, short and sweet and cutting...much like yourself, Octavia-chan ♥."

He really couldn't help himself with that one, if only to see if she would also be too tired to roll her eyes, or offer up one of those miniscule little Octavia-sized versions of it.

And then, as if to make up for it, he cut any further preamble, and recited:

"ōyuki ya
yuki o mi ni yuku
tokoro nashi"

Then he let the slow and careful recitation linger for a moment before following it with a translation

"So much snow--but
a place for snow viewing?
There's nowhere to go.

"It came to me ironically, really, when I was thinking about how little snow there's been this January, and what a shame that was. And it brought to mind a pleasant little scene, of a small boat on a still lake, cutting through the dark water while surrounded by the brilliant softness of recently fallen snow ♥. An excellent scene for a book, don't you think? Snow-viewing parties were an incredibly popular pasttime in my youth, we could fill whole volumes of books with poetry about snow..."

Edited 2020-01-30 19:29 (UTC)

Octavia didn't roll her eyes, but she managed a faint snort that conveyed much the same feeling, so... Close enough? She reacted, that was good.

And then she just listened again. Even closed her eyes for a bit, to let the Japanese wash over her, listening to the sounds since she didn't understand the words before the translation that followed.

"It hasn't been much of a winter," she agreed in a murmur. "But, snow-viewing parties?"

A reaction was very good, and Shunsui, pleased, met her question with a crooked grin.

"Snow-viewing parties," he confirmed, nodding slightly. "Essentially an excuse for bored young aristocrats to get together at someone's mountain villa to cavort and drink sake and write poetry, sometimes even about the snow ♥! But it really could be beautiful, and some of the best ones were when Nature would make her presence so powerful and known that you couldn't help but stop and get caught in the absolutely splendor of it ♥.

"Maybe I should host one, one of these days ♥," he mused, around a sip of his sake, "if we ever get any snow around here, anyway..."

"Sounds nice," Octavia replied, faint but genuine. Because it did. She thought people often underappreciated what was around them.

She'd only recently really had the luxury of taking it for granted. She tried her best not to. "Not that I'm much of a party person."

"You ♥?" Shunsui's soft, chuckling voice was far too fond and teasing to really be incredulous. "Not much of a party person, Octavia-chan? I'd have never guessed...♥."

But he demurred into a gentle rumble. "But they were never really grand soirées, anyway. They were small groups, mostly. The intimacy is part of the charm ♥."

"I like those better."

Yeah, no shit, O. But at least she was actually participating in the conversation? A little, anyway.

She leaned back in the chair. Even though it was a small movement, there was something heavy about it. "Maybe we'll get lucky and there'll be snow soon."

"We can only hope ♥," Shunsui made his drawl and his expression particularly wistful there, "and be patient, I suppose, though perhaps if Nature is not feeling generous enough to bring snow to us, we can merely bring ourselves to the snow ♥."

Because portals were a thing.

But, unfortunately, so were Shunsui's laziness and his general lack of a thing called follow-through...

Yeah.

That wasn't exactly what Octavia was thinking, but her thoughts were still in the general vicinity.

Something wry managed to break through the exhaustion. "We never really make plans, do we?"

"Ah, but we have Wednesdays, don't we, Octavia-chan ♥?"

Yes. He considered those plans. Making sure to be at the store on a specific day of the week, and the school as well now that he had a class, was the closest this man had gotten to a structured schedule since...well, the last time he'd lived here.

Despite the collected efforts of his lieutenant, and captain-commander, and fellow captains, and....

"I'm not much for plans, really," he added with a casual sort of drawl, a small shrug of his shoulders. "I'd much rather just leave myself open to fate and whichever the wind may desire to move my feet ♥.

"But I certainly wouldn't be against the idea," he added with an almost apologetic smile, as if he felt it was a bit unfair to take advantage of her current exhausted state to reap such pleasant benefits for himself, "if you feel as though perhaps we should make more plans, Octavia-chan ♥."

"We do have Wednesdays," Octavia agreed. Maybe she didn't consider that plans, as such, but it was her longest-standing bit of scheduling that wasn't for training or work but was, instead, just for her.

And him.

"But we could make some, sometimes," she added after a pause. Nothing was happening very fast with her today. "I was told it's what you do when you want to make sure to spend time with someone."

Shunsui was never really a fan of doing things too quickly even during normal circumstances, but, then again, it often felt like he had all the time in the world. This was clearly no exception, and the sentiment made him smile faintly.

"To think," he mused, "all this time, I thought Yami-ji was getting on my case about meetings, but it turns out, he merely wanted to spend more time with me ♥. But you know I will always enjoy spending more time with you, Octavia-chan ♥. Did you have something in mind? Perhaps, if there's no snow by next week, I should have my snow-viewing party anyway? Or maybe this is a better discussion for when you're feeling a bit better, mm?"

"Might be best for another time," Octavia replied, just the barest hint of something regretful creeping into her voice, there. She knew the next while was going to be hard, and making plans to be distracted in company she liked probably wouldn't go amiss, but...

But, she knew herself, and so she knew she was more than likely to just drop everything and disappear into the preserve again for a while.

She tried for something smile-like. Really just hit something a little soft. "But we can make it a plan, that we'll make plans later."

"A plan to make plans, Octavia-chan ♥?" Shunsui asked, with a softness intended to match her own, though he likely had a much easier time of managing it. "I think those are plans that even I could keep ♥. I'll look forward to it, then."

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [01/29].

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