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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [04/14].

Shunsui had been hoping that maybe that nice little streak he'd had on making some progress on that novel he was supposed to be working on would continue through to this week, but it became increasingly clear that the thought of merely lifting his pen again felt like a terrible chore, so he accepted that he'd wrung what he could out of the muse for now, and would send them off to Nanao-chan for review, but not until giving them another read-over for himself.

Even he was impressed by the particularly verbous nature of its elaborately, erm, detailed meanderings. There was hardly any plot to speak of. But he didn't suppose anyone would be reading a Shunsui Kyōraku novel for its plot, anyway.

Oh, Nanao-chan was going to just be delighted.

There were a few minor edits and add-ons to put in here and there on his rough draft, but, before too long, he figured that was good, went to slip it into an envelope ot send off, and then decided he was probably overdue for a nap now, he'd had a very productive week!

Today's Squishy Flavors
Pecan Pie
Pineapple
Red

Turtle & Canary is open!

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How long had it been, this time? Octavia wasn't sure. Didn't matter, anyway.

She was here now. Had a thing or two she actually needed to buy, to boot.

"Konnichiwa."

It certainly never really mattered to Shunsui, although it did seem as if she'd gotten into a habit of showing up just around the time where it might actually start to.

Shunsui's smile was lazy, easy, and decidedly pleased.

"Ah, ohayō gozaimasu, Octavia-chan ♥," he said, setting two small cups on the counter. "Come to do some shopping?"

"Yeah," Octavia said, as she came to the counter. "Groceries, and -- something else."

If she suddenly sounded a little distracted, it was because she'd just looked down, and, right, yeah. Sake.

She hadn't thought of that.

As she looked down, Shunsui was carefully pouring from his ever-present jug, filling the cups evenly so that it wouldn't matter which one he offered out to her because they were both the same.

But he set the jug down within close reach, picked up the one to his left, and did offer it out with a slight duck of his head and a smile that clearly thought the something else must be exactly what was in those cups.

"Because what is a Wednesday without sake, neh ♥?"

It was not.

There was a quiet moment, where Octavia did not reach for the cup the way she usually would.

Then, finally, she said, "I'm not really drinking alcohol right now."

"....ah."

Shunsui wasn't exactly sure what about that felt like a little bit of a sting. Not like there was an issue with the statement itself, that was fine and understandable probably on a few levels, but perhaps more to do with the fact that, apparently, this was something that had developed in the time since her last visit, and yet it felt like this was somehow something he was supposed to have just known, as if he shouldn't have just presumed on something that had been a cornerstone of nearly every one of their interactions in their long if infrequent history of knowing each other.

"So ka," he drawled with grin and another tilt of his head, this one to accompany the lift of the cup left hanging in his offer in a toast, "all the more for me, then ♥."

And he drank down the sake until the cup was empty, so that he could set that one aside by the jug and pick up the second one for himself, this one to be savored and enjoyed at the usual social pace.

"And what is it we wish to procure today, Octavia-chan ♥?"

He wasn't supposed to have known. How could he have? Even Octavia hadn't realized this was going to be a problem until she'd actually seen the cups, because this thing they always did had never been about the alcohol but the ritual of it.

And it stung to skip that, too. More than she'd expected it to, in the moment before.

Her hand had rarely felt this empty.

"A picture frame," she said, doing her best not to seem thrown. It was... not very successful.

It would have been impossible not to have noticed that something was a bit...off, even when Shunsui had gotten quite used to expecting any wide range of various states when she did happen to stop in. And then settling into the task of figuring out how best to approach it.

Which, hopefully, would simply be as easy as just being his usual self.

"Then you're in luck, Octavia-chan ♥," he informed her after another slowly sip from his cup. "As we have quite a wide selection of precisely those in stock, and it will be nice to have them serve a higher purpose than merely collecting dust ♥. Would you like me to show you ♥?"

"Sure," Octavia said.

Going against her instinct to just flee her own discomfort. She'd been doing that enough, lately.

"In that case," there was another duck of Shunsui's head, this time with a tilt of his hat, as he set his cup down next to the other one, and moved to drift his way around the counter, with all the usual effects of his flowing robes, and he gestured to indicate his direction before floating on that way, "follow me ♥. You'll find them over here, patiently awaiting in Aisle Handwavey ♥."

Octavia followed quietly, like she had many times before. Watching all that fabric flutter about around him as she moved.

How his movement could seem so light would forever be a mystery to her.

It didn't take long to get to the small and somehow always perfectly stocked household section of the store, with its miscellaneous decor and accoutrements and fancy shaped soaps for some reason, and Shunsui made an expectedly grand gesture toward their offering of frames, some on shelves, some hanging as if to make it easier for the purchaser to picture them on their own walls at home, when they arrived.

"Ta-daaah ♥," he offered. "Our picture frames. Certainly no lack of selection, though I suppose it could use some narrowing down. What sort of frame are you in the market for, Octavia-chan ♥? Small frame? Large frame? Something rather ostentatiously eye-catching," not at all referring to a particular frame that seemed entirely, garishly pieced together with nearly every shape and color of plastic rhinestone imaginable, no, "or perhaps somehting more austere and simple?"

He couldn't possibly imagine which style she might prefer....

Edited 2021-04-14 16:07 (UTC)

Obviously the rhinestones, come on!

"Simple."

Dammit, Octavia.

"Probably plastic," she added. "Glass seems like a bad idea on a boat, and I don't want to have to put it away any time there's a little storm."

"Smart," Shunsui agreed, his grin pleased if unsurprised. "Once again, Octavia-chan, your brilliance proves to somehow match your beauty ♥. SO that does narrow it down nicely to style, so what now about size? What will the frame be for ♥?"

Octavia mimed something close to a typical letter paper size.

"Like that?" she said. "It's... It's a drawing."

One that she wasn't even entirely sure she wanted to hang up, yet. But here she was.

Shunsui nodded a little, tilting back his hat with one hand while the other unnecessarily rubbed at his chin with the deep and careful consideration required of the diminishing field of possibilities before them.

"A very good thing to keep safe and aesthetically displayed ♥," he noted. "And another case for simple; one wouldn't want to distract from the drawing itself with the trappings of an elaborate frame ♥."

Well. One might, but they clearly weren't talking about that.

Octavia was going to end up with the simplest black frame with plastic instead of glass the store had.

In fact, that was kind of what she was already looking for as she looked the offerings over.

"Something like that, yeah."

It was so basic that the exact same frame could be found in packs of multiples on the bottom shelf for those truly committed to their dedication to the purely functional and nondescript.

"My statement regarding your luck, then," Shunsui mused, "stands firm ♥. I'd say we have just the thing. Imagine that." He slid a bit of a grin over to her. "We really do have everything here ♥."

"Including all my luck, I guess," Octavia muttered.

Mostly to herself, but. You know. Still out loud.

Which was certainly going ot earn her a slight quirk of a brow, but Shunsui would take it in stride, as he planned to do with most things.

"Perhaps we can throw a little of that in as an extra," he offered. "Terrible thing to run out of, especially if we've got so much of here ♥."

Octavia was just not going to say anything in response to that. So, taking it in stride was probably a good idea.

She reached for a frame to take a closer look at it, and asked, "Did you have any kids, this weekend?"

So yes, definitely changing the subject. (Mostly, anyway.)

"I'm fairly certain," said Shunsui with a breath of a laugh that sounded a bit like relief, "that if the island decided to start gracing us with the potential fruits of my loins, Octavia-chan, the very island itself would sink into the ocean from the sheer weight of them all ♥."

Which he knew was a good way to tempt fate into deciding to ruin his otherwise perfect streak with this sort of thing, but that was a risk he was willing to take.

His head tilted a littl ethoughtfully for the suggestion of nuance in her face when she would no doubt deliver as simple an answer as she could muster for his returning question.

"Did you?"

"I did," Octavia said, her eyes firmly on the frame in her hands. (It was a white one. She was trying to picture it on her boat.) "A girl."

A pause. Her voice was as mild as her expression, but something softened. Just a fraction.

"It's her drawing."

"All the more reason," Shunsui said with a softer smile of his own, "to have it well displayed, neh ♥?"

And there were so many questions that could be branched off from that, but he felt the one he ultimately asked was likely one that could brush lightly against all the others in a satisfactory enough fashion.

"What did she draw?"

"Me."

Yeah.

She put the frame back. It wasn't what she was looking for.

It was certainly an answer that managed to defy all of Shunsui's already low expectations, which was almost a little impressive.

"So the little duckling already has a good eye for the visually pleasing ♥," he offered. "I don't suppose you've brought it with you, Octavia-chan?"

"No."

To be fair, Octavia might have said that even if she had. It just went hand in hand with her uncertainty about whether she wanted to even display the picture, or if she just wanted to keep it to herself.

She picked up another frame in silence.

Then said, quiet and mild and like an afterthought, "Can show you a picture of her, though, if you'd like."

Shunsui was just about to settle into letting her peruse the selection in either quiet patience or with occasional commentary when that last part came in, and the brightening of his smile was immediate.

"I would love to see a picture, Octavia-chan. Let's have a look at the little duckling ♥."

After all, having his own supposed offspring show up would be one thing, but Shunsui was always eager to coo and fawn over other people's kids, free as they were of any parental responsibilities or demands.

Octavia set the frame aside so she could pull her phone out. She tapped at it for a short moment, flicked to a picture of a girl somewhere in the preserve, then held the phone out so he could see.

"Her name's Hope."

It seemed a little ironic to Octavia, all things considered. (Or at least that was the only way she could bear to think about it.)

Shunsui leaned in, tilting back his hat so that he could see better, smile not slipping or sliding or going anywhere except perhaps a little bit softer.

At least until it tilted a bit into a grin once his eyes started dancing between Octavia and the photo, as if trying to pick out the resemblance.

"A lovely name," he said, "for a lovely little girl ♥."

Who drew pictures that were absolutely worthy of frames.

"What more can you tell me about her, Octavia-chan?"

There was more of a resemblance with how Octavia had looked around the same age than with her as she was now. And all of it coincidental, because they shared no genes.

Octavia tilted the phone more towards herself again, so she could take a look, too.

"Well, her mom's a terrorist," she rasped. "So, there's that."

And Shunsui, who had no reason to believe that the girl's mother was not, in fact, Octavia, could only let out a small breath of a chuckle.

Especially since that didn't really answer the question.

"Takes after her," he ventured, "does she ♥?"

You know what, that was fair.

Even if Octavia gave him a very mildly dry look. "I'm not talking about me, Shunsui," she said. And then explained, "Her mom's someone I -- knew, on the Ground."

That was an extremely nice way of putting it.

"Charmaine Diyoza. That's Hope's mom. She called me 'Aunty O'."

"Has a nice ring to it ♥," Shunsui complimented, as if she had anything to do with it, Nd though his bemused smile still lingered, there was an odd quirk to his brow.

"So not yours?" he ventured. "But rather, ahhh...yours-adjacent?"

He didn't know adjacent could be a thing and couldn't help wondering how many awkward run-ins with a bizarro-timeline Nanao-chan calling him oji-san instead of taicho he'd been narrowly avoiding.

"As far as I could tell, it had been just Hope, Diyoza and me for Hope's entire life so far," Octavia said with a faint shrug. "I think that's about as mine as it gets."

Also in terms of living a childhood in isolation with no one but her family. But they really didn't need to go there right now, because Octavia was still processing that part.

A little ripple of relief went through Shunsui, even as the smaller of his swords had started calling a bit of attention to herself as if to let him know that he was well beyond adjacent at this point, anyway.

Yes, Kyōkotsu, he knew it was all quite complicated, thank you.

"I would say you're quite right on that," he offered in agreement to the topic actually at hand. "And how long would that have been?"

Ages were a tricky thing for a Shinigami to parse out even on a good day...

Edited 2021-04-15 22:16 (UTC)

Octavia spent enough of her time around a celestial to not be fazed.

"Seven years."

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Turtle & Canary; Wednesday [04/14].

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