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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [08/26].

There was nothing unusual about Shunsui napping behind the counter at T&C. Those naps weren't usually fueled by the utter body and soul exhaustion that came from having spent several days in a deep, medetative state attempting to reconcile his relationsip with his swords, but, for all intents and purposes, it certainly seemed like just another typical Wednesday at the store.

Shunsui had to admit, though, he was glad it was apparently National Toilet Paper Day, because it was much more difficult to Apu-san to make a disturbing clatter with toilet paper pyramids than pretty much anything else.

Today's Squishy Flavors
Cherry Popsicle
Fruit Punch
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

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If Octavia was honest, she was... maybe not entirely comfortable with showing up here today. But, hiding from things rarely worked out, and she was still trying to get some structure and routine into her life, so.

Here she was.

And completely unsurprised by the napping, although it did kind of make her consider just heading back out again.

And if Shunsui was honest, he was surprised to see Octavia come in that say, especially as a man with absolutely no qualms about ignoring and avoiding even small issues. To the point where he almost considered just pretending he was beyond being woken up.

But it wasn't just his (and Katen's) memories they'd be avoiding, were they? And that somehow made it very different.

So he cracked open an eye slowly, let out a soft, pleased sounding hum as he took her in, and then slowly pushed up from here he'd been slouched on his arm, adjusting his hat.

"Ah," he said, "Octavia-chan ♥. The island must be making up for all those bad dreams last week by giving us exceptionally lovely ones this week ♥."

"I'm not a dream," Octavia replied, trying for a wry tone, mostly failing. Mostly just sounding mild. "I'm just..."

She trailed off, as she approached the counter.

"Me."

"Even better, then ♥," Shunsui said, his tone softening with his smile, as he found his jug, found two cups.

"Would you care for some sake, Octavia-chan ♥?"

Already pouring, already holding out his hand with perfectly balanced cups, by the time she might answer.

And Octavia was practically already reaching for it before he'd fully finished the question.

And, yes. Hand brushing against hand again, this week. Maybe even a little more lingering than it had been the previous time.

That linger touch came as more of a relief to Shunsui than he had necessarily wanted it to, bit it was there, and it was a relief, especially with Octavia taking her time, and he tried not to think about what else they might have seen of each other if they had shared the ritual then that morning.

He took his time, too, trailing fingers. But a little different. Thoughtful, if fingertips could be that.

"Have you been having a good day," he then asked, a quiet, soft rumble. "Octavia-chan?"

"I went to Duke's beach yoga," Octavia replied, as she finally drew her hand back, and the cup of sake with it.

It may not have sounded like an actual answer on the surface, but it was.

It felt like more than enough of an answer to warrent a tilt to Shunsui's grin, at least.

"Nice day for it ♥," he noted, with a small lift of his cup before taking a sip.

Octavia shrugged a little. "It was good." And her voice was subtly soft, in its mildness. "I haven't... really trained as much since I've been back. Feels good to move."

"Do try and temper your shock with this one, Octavia-chan," Shunsui said with a small laugh, "but that is a sentiment I'm afraid we don't quite share ♥."

And he watched her for a moment before adding, "I'm glad you were able to enjoy it, though."

"I've been in a lot of cages," Octavia rasped, resisting the urge to go for another shrug. "I like remembering I'm not in one."

"Mmm." With that low, thoughtful hum, Shunsui sipped his sake, buying himself a little time, perhaps, to think of just what to say to that. He didn't have much, and a part of him was weighing still whether that was best.

"That's a good thing to remember."

Octavia gave in to the urge to shrug again, at that.

And fell quiet, for the moment, taking a sip from her cup.

And so it would seem that it feel on his much broader shoulders to carry on the conversation if if it was to be carried. Hardly surprising, and hardly anything new.

He did take a moment to finish his cup, though, and pour himself a little more.

"Reminds me a little of a poem, actually," he offered. "Would you like to hear it, Octavia-chan ♥?"

Octavia's nod was tiny, but immediate.

"Yes."

A little bit of it was the desire to keep him talking so that she wouldn't have to, sure. But most of it was genuine curiosity, reflected in the subtle opening up of the expression on her face.

Shunsui smiled a bit at that, took another sip of his sake, and recited:

"Ori no naka no tori ga chō o dorehodo kanashiku mite iru ka."

A pause, a moment to let it that settle and linger and fill the space between them, and then, the English:

"How sadly the bird in its cage," he said, "watches the butterflies."

It was hopeless, the way Octavia listened so intently to the Japanese, like she could decipher it if she just paid enough attention, somehow.

And then the translation came, and she couldn't help the noise she made, soft, incredulous - not really a laugh, but definitely somewhere in that realm of things.

Just, not joyful.

Shunsui considered maintaining a silence of his own to see if she felt inclined to elaborate on that response, but just offered, "The poet is a man named Kobayashi Issa. I can't claim that one as my own ♥."

She'd read his poetry at one point, he assumed, so this should not be surprising.

It had been almost a decade since she had, but yes, Octavia remembered enough not to be all that surprised.

Not that that was what she was thinking about. She was trying to decide if and how to tell him why this poem seemed... personal to her in a way that wasn't obvious.

A short moment passed. Then she tugged her left sleeve a little further up, revealing the tattoo that had appeared on her shoulder while she'd been away: a lopsided, slightly open circle, with three marks shaped like the letter V above it.

"These," she said, tapping one of the Vs, "they're... supposed to be butterflies."

And so it would seem that fumbling around in the dark with the only poem one could think of that involved a cage, one could still manage to catch one's toe on something. It seemed accurate enough, anyway. Fumbling around until he stumbled into something seemed to be how most things landed on Shunsui, anyway.

He watched Octavia in her silence, and then in her reveal of the tattoo. Considered the lines for a moment.

"Supposed to be," he quirked a brow, "Octavia-chan?"

Octavia was getting really tired of people repeating that word back to her, and it kind of showed in how dry her expression got. But maybe that was good? It grounded her back in the moment.

(Helped her pull some of her shields back up.)

"Well, do they look like butterflies to you?"

Well, perhaps if it didn't just feel as though every time she used it, it was as if a very crucial part of who she was, in Shunsui's estimation, had been lost along the way...

But he met that question, that subtle rebuilding of walls, with a lazy smile.

"Does it matter what it looks like to me?"

"Never mind," Octavia replied, her tone a little bit clipped, as she yanked her sleeve back down. She took her cup and downed what was left in one go.

Then set it back down and pushed it towards him. Returning it, not requesting a refill.

"Thanks for the sake."

(Yes, this felt exhaustingly familiar to her, too.)

And Shunsui, with a sigh so subtle it could easily be mistaken for just another simple breath, pulled the cup back in the rest of the way.

It was good, though. This was good. Much better than all those half-shrugs and downcast eyes and half-murmured responses. And if it just left her angry and irritable with him, then...well...

Then that was usually for the best, wasn't it?

"Tondemonai," he said, ducking his head, tipping his hat, "Octavia-chan."

But it wasn't good, not for Octavia. She'd almost talked about something, something good, and instead she'd just stumbled into the kind of muted anger she routinely used to cover up most of her other negative emotions.

Like hurt.

"Yeah, see you," she said, flatly, as she turned to go.

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [08/26].

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