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paradisalost2007-03-19 11:15 pm
hoero-zabimaru.livejournal.com) wrote in paradisalost2007-03-19 11:15 pm
Entry tags:
[Log] A Day on the Town
Who: Abarai Renji and Yamanaka Ino
What: Getting to know one another better, and a bit of shopping in town.
When: After this thread.
Where: Town outside the castle, duh.
Rating: PG!
Notes: Bold = Renji
Normal = Ino
Ino hummed happily to herself as she walked up the stairs to the 16th floor to go get Renji. She was, of course, very curious about his appearance. He seemed nice enough, and it sounded like he had a lot of interesting powers. If he was attractive as well, then that would be perfect for her. She mused over this as she ascended the final flight of stairs and walked down the hall to find the correct room. 1600 ... 1605 ... 1610. She knocked on the door and announced herself cheerfully, fixing her hair. "Renji! It's Ino!"
Renji had been in the process of tying up his hair when the knock came, raising a tattooed brow and listening, then cursing quietly. That'd been quicker than he'd thought. "Hold on a minute!" he called, the words a bit muffled, since his hair tie was currently held in his teeth. Quickly finishing this process he walked to the door, opening it to greet the girl he'd been talking to over the journals as of recent. "Hey," he greeted casually, nodding to her.
She smiled, nodding back and quickly looking him over. Not bad. "See? I told you it wouldn't take very long," she said, grinning. She turned back towards the hallway, gesturing towards the stairs. "You ready, then?" She briefly wondered what the deal was with the tattoos before stepping back to allow Renji room to exit his own room. "You haven't been out of the castle yet, have you?"
Renji shook his head, stepping out and closing the door behind himself. "Nah, I haven't. I'm guessin' you have, though," he answered, glancing over at her. "So, what's the town like then?" He was wondering more what Ino might have in mind to do when they got into town, but decided to find out more than ask.
"A couple of times. They have some really nice places there, like cute little cafes and stuff." She tried to put a mental picture of the town in her head as she walked towards the staircase. "Well ... it's kinda small and there's just a bunch of little shops. And there's some small houses surrounding it. But it's all really homey and all the people there are nice. Although, they don't really talk much except to give directions." She smiled at him. "I have some things to buy and a little investigating to do," she added, in case he was curious as to what he was in for.
Renji nodded slightly at the info, raising a tattooed eyebrow at the 'investigating' part. "Investingatin'? About what?" Well, if he was curious he wouldn't hesitate to ask about what was intriguing him. He tried to remember where they were going through the castle at the same time, so he wouldn't be so clueless the next time he had to go out somewhere and he didn't have someone to lead him... as weird as that felt when it wasn't his taichou.
She began down the flight of steps, observing at the pattern in the stone steps before replying. "I need to see if they have a movie theater in town," she said. "There's a friend of mine who's never seen a movie before, or even heard of them -- if there is a theater, then I can tell him to take his girlfriend to go see a movie." She looked back at him. "Do you like movies?"
"Eh? Movie... theater?" The Shinigami blinked curiously at this, confused by the term. He'd never heard of one either, though when it came to a lot of modern-day things he was completely clueless. For a while he hadn't even heard of coffee. "What's a movie?" he asked, tilted his head a bit in questioning. If anything, it caught his interest highly.
Ino's jaw dropped. Not another one!He seemed like he would have been from a relatively modern culture, but apparently not. "You don't know either, huh?" She sighed and tried to think of a way to explain it, as she had done for Sokka. "It's like ... there's a screen," she said, holding up her fingers in a rectangle. "And a bunch of pictures are put together to make one really long moving picture with a story. Plus music and talking and all that. And all that is projected onto the screen for people's entertainment." She hoped that made sense. Maybe she would have to take him to a movie if there was a theater in town, then. It was hard to believe so many people had grown up without showers or movies or any of the things she found normal to have.
Renji listened to this in silence, trying to image it in his head. Moving pictures? Like on the television he'd sometimes watched at Urahara's... "Like... a tv?" he asked as the thought hit him, rubbing the back of his neck. She'd seemed shocked that he was confused about this, and that slightly embarrassed the redhead, since it seemed to her a common thing.
"Yes, like TV!" she said, glad that he knew something to compare it to. "Only movies are usually ... hm, like two hours long and they're first put on a HUUUGE screen," she said, spreading her arms out to indicate the size of a movie theater screen. "The whole story is usually all shown in the two hours. Well, sometimes there's sequels, but they're usually dumber than the original one." She grinned. "If there is a theater and it's playing something, then let's go. It'll be fun, I promise~!"
He blinked at this, trying to imagine it, managing to end up with a mental image of a really large TV running a show that was two hours long. He didn't really get it, but he'd supposed it was something he'd have to see to really get. He nodded slightly at her offer, grinning slightly. "Sure. Sounds like fun, anyway."
"Okay!" She said happily. By this time they had managed to get down to the first floor. She pointed in the direction of the large door that led to the road, which led to the city. "This is the main entrance. Just for future reference." She smiled and opened the door, holding it so Renji could go through. She glanced down the road, checking to see if anybody threatening was on their way to the city. She wanted this trip to be fun, not a battle, but if she saw any Akatsuki ... which she didn't. Phew.
Renji nodded slightly, walking out and glancing about curiously. He'd only seen the outside from his window, so he was curious as to what it looked like compared to Karakura. He then set his sights down the road, trying to scope out the city from where he stood, though admittedly he couldn't really see it very well-- which he wasn't really expecting in the first place, but still.
Ino walked along the road, quietly observing the surroundings for a moment before remembering how much she hated silence and quickly ran over a list of things to talk about. Parents? No. Childhood? No. Favorite color? Um ... no. Job? Ooh, that could work. She glanced over at him. "So ... what exactly do shinigami do, anyways?" It was a big topic jump from movies to shinigami, but whatever.
"Eh?" He looked at her, then thought of how to simply explain it. "Shinigami reap souls and eliminate Hollows. When we find a soul stuck in the human world we perform a soul funeral to send them on to Soul Society, so they can live peacefully." Not to mention Soul Society hadn't been really peaceful as of late but still...
"Oh," she said simply. She was reminded of Asuma-sensei's funeral. "I'd ask you if you've seen someone, but I don't know if the same thing happens in my world when people die ..." She paused, re-thinking what he had said in her head. "What's a Hollow? Is it like that big thing that attacked the castle?" She remembered someone mentioning the word "Hollow", maybe it was Yachiru. She hadn't gotten the full explanation yet, though, so she was curious.
"A Hollow is a soul that's corrupted. It's usually what happens when a Shinigami is unable to reach a soul in time, and the chain of fate connecting it to the world and the physical body eats itself. The thing that attacked the castle was a form of Hollow, yeah, but a much more powerful one than most." He paused, then said, "The last time one showed it, it took the power of three taichous to fend it off."
Ino nodded, mostly understanding his explanation. There was something she still didn't understand, though. "Just one question ... how do you fight a soul? Aren't they kind of ... uhm, not solid?" All of the targets she had ever aimed for were solid, except for some kinds of clones, so this made no sense to her.
He grinned slightly at this. "That's why we're not solid when we fight it," he replied, tugging slightly on the sleeve of the shirt his gigai wore. "See, I look human to you now, but right now I'm in what's called a 'gigai'-- false body. This isn't how a usually look." Well, clothing-wise, anyway. He kept the shocking red hair and body map of tattoos."It's what we use if we temporarily lose our powers or need to do a mission in the human world."
Ino's mouth dropped open a bit. "Wait, so you ..." A false body? That was also kind of creepy. She guessed it would probably be just as creepy to him if she did Henge, though, so she decided not to make a comment. "... What do you normally look like, then?" She really, really hoped it was similar. Or hotter, that worked too. Man, these Shinigami people were weird.
He paused, thinking. He thought about just leaving the body, but then again she couldn't see the Menos, so she probably wouldn't see him in Shinigami form either, so that would be useless. "There's not much of a change, besides wardrobe. Just black robes, which are the uniforms of Shinigami, unless you're a taichou." Even then, you only got the extra white coat with your division emblem on the back, so again not much of a change.
"Ohhh." Well, that was a relief. "You guys have uniforms, huh? Shinobi can wear pretty much whatever they want as long as they can reach this," she said, patting the pack of kunai on her leg. "And if you're able to move around easily, obviously." She thought about the whole gigai thing for a moment before asking, "So, if you're just in a fake body and you're not solid, doesn't that make you dead?" That would certainly explain why he didn't know what a movie was, if he had been dead for awhile.
He raised a brow at the pack, but nodded slightly. He'd heard the term from Soi Fong-taichou, who ran the recon division of Soul Society. "Yeah, which is why I live in Soul Society," he answered, nodding slightly. "We wear these so that we're able to be seen by everyone... though I'm still wondering how I got into mine," he muttered as an afterthought. After all, he'd last been out of it, so how had his body suddenly been fetched and his soul shoved into it?
"Wow, that's kind of weird ..." she said, not to the gigai comment but the fact that he really was dead. And she was talking to a dead person. She was sure she'd get over it eventually, but for now it was still kind of strange. She noticed, however, that they were almost into the town now. "Must be something to do with Paradisa," she said to his wondering. "Although, a lot of people who were dead before they came here are alive, I wonder why you didn't just come back to life instead of being put in the gigai thing?" She looked around, looking for the first place she wanted to go to.
He shrugged slightly. "Guessed it's cause I've been dead for an extended period of time, or cause I still kinda live on in my spirit form." After all, he did run around cutting down Hollows for a living as a spirit. He glanced around as they entered the town, going back to his inquisitive state at all the buildings and houses. Karakura was like this, but not as close-packed as this place was.
"Oh, that's true," she commented. She spotted a small shop that was off to the left, and began to walk that way before turning to look at Renji. "Hey, let's go in there," she said. "Oh, unless there's something over there you want to look at," Ino added, remembering that it was his first time in town.
"Mmn?" He gazed at the store Ino had pointed out, then shook his head, heading in with her. "Nah, nothin' in particular looks interestin' from the outside yet." Besides, she was the one who'd invited him, not the other way around. And who knew what'd be for sale in here? .... speaking of sale, what currency did these people take? A confused look swept over his face at the thought. And how exactly did you earn it?
Ino went into the store happily. Shopping was her hobby, after all, so she was having a great time already. The store she had chosen looked to be a store full of plates and cups and cutlery and the like. She found something she liked right away, though, not wanting to bore Renji. She paused to look at a set of teacups with a matching teapot that had a very exotic-looking pattern on it. She pointed to it. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked. She wondered if he passed shopping off as stupid like most guys seemed to do.
Honestly, Renji didn't really hang around people who dragged him shopping [what shopping did he do anyway? Besides Urahara's store, he'd never really stepped foot in one], so he was as curious as ever. He'd picked up and been inspecting a plate when she spoke, glancing over his shoulder as he set the patterned plate down. "Looks nice," he admitted, looking at the design interestedly. Maybe it was something someone like Ukitake-taichou would like-- the man did love his tea, after all.
Ino grinned. He was looking around, too! She let out a short laugh before picking up another teapot next to it. "I think you're the first guy I've met that doesn't think shopping is the most pointless thing in the world," she commented. She was also wondering what his view on flowers was ... hm. Maybe she'd have to stop by a flower store, too. She decided on the first set she had looked at and carefully brought the box up to the counter, paying with the money that had magically appeared in her wallet. It was almost too awesome for words that she had unlimited money to go shopping with.
Renji blinked at this, surprised when she just suddenly produced money out of nowhere. Did she have a job here or something? "Oi... where'd you get the money?" he asked, scratching his head. It made him wonder how long Ino had been here, too, if it did happen that she held a job here.
She took the bag with the tea set in it from the cashier before turning to Renji. "What do you mean, where did --" Oh, wait. He was new here. She forgot to explain. "Oh, right. Well, the money just kind of appears in your wallet whenever you need it. Cool, huh?" She grinned and exited the store, looking up and down the street for another store. Did this city even have a flower shop?
Renji blinked in surprise at this simple answer, following after her. "It... appears? Just like that?" That was... really odd. He'd never heard of such a thing happening. He was having wondering if he opened his wallet right now, if he would see the money just like he said. The redhead provided an amusing sight as he dug for his own wallet, finding it and opening it, eyes widening like a kid in a candy store as Ino's words were proven true. "Whoa."
"Just like that." Ino giggled at the look on his face. "What, you didn't believe me? But yeah, it's really convenient, especially if you buy stuff a lot." She kept looking, not seeing any flower shop. Oh, wait, was that one on the end? She pulled Renji's sleeve gently and pointed down the road. "I think there's a flower shop down that way ... do you like flowers at all?"
He blinked at the tug on his sleeve, looking up as he closed his wallet, gaze following where she pointed. "Flowers..." It wasn't like he loved them, but he didn't hate them either. There were certain types he like, and he admitted floral patterns looked nice on yukatas and kimonos. So he nodded, looking back at her. "Planning on going there next?"
"I think so. It might be fun to see how the flower shops here compare." She started heading that way, and realized he probably didn't know what she meant by 'compare'. "Oh -- my family at home runs a flower shop. So, I'm trained in ikebana and all that," Ino said, stopping in front of the small place. It was a small stand, really, not even a shop. The flowers were still pretty, though, so she picked a few out of the containers they were sitting in. "See, first you take a centerpiece ..." she picked up a cosmos flower, vaguely reminded of her conversation with Sakura long ago. "And then you take some other less pretty things," Ino pulled out a few tiny flowers that were mostly leaves. "... and you put them together, and you have a bouquet." She held the bunch of flowers in front of her for Renji to see.
Renji looked at the bouquet for a few moments, then nodded slightly. He admitted it did look nice. "Like... this?" He paused, glancing over the flowers for a moments before picking out a few roses, then a few other bunches of small flowers, glancing at the finished product. It looked a bit funny to him, but then again he wasn't exactly an expert in the field of flowers and bouquet making. He was also beginning to wonder what the other SHinigami would say, should they see him attempting to organize flowers, but it was quickly pushed out of his mind.
Ino laughed, pleased that he had tried it himself. "Kind of," she said, and took the bunches of smaller flowers away and put them back where they had come from. "You've got the right idea, but the smaller flowers have to complement the big ones." She pulled out a few even smaller flowers that fit around the roses better and brought out the color better and put them where the other ones were in Renji's hands. "Ta-da!" she said, before turning to the person running the stand. "I'll take both of these," she said, pointing to both bouquets and then paying for them promptly.
Renji looked at the new bouquet and nodded slightly-- it looked better than before. He just didn't have an eye for this stuff when trying it himself, really. He blinked as she talked to the vendor, turning to Ino. "Oi, I..." Where would he keep these? He didn't have a vase or anything in his room, so how could he keep them alive for long if he didn't have water?
She put her wallet away again and looked at Renji. He looked confused ... maybe he didn't want the flowers? "What's wrong?" Ino asked.
"I... don't exactly know where I'd put 'em," he muttered, glancing at the flowers he held. "Don't have anythin' to put 'em in." Honestly, the fukutaichou was beginning to look like a confused, slightly disappointed kid.
"Ah!" So that was the problem. "You need a vase, then," she said, looking around for a place that might have one. Ah, there was a place that had pottery, maybe that would have vases. She pointed to the store she had found. "I think you can get vases there," she said, heading over in that direction hoping that Renji would follow.
Renji nodded, following after her quickly as he began to walk, so far enjoying this trip into town with Ino. As they entered the store he began looking about curiously again, looking at the various wares the owner was offering up for sale, as well as trying to locate where the vases could be.
Ino stood on her tiptoes, surveying the aisles before seeing what looked to be vases in one of them. She walked over to that aisle, and sure enough, there were some vases. Lots of different kinds of vases, too. "Over here, Renji!" she said, taking in the many different shapes and sizes. There were some pretty plain vases, and also some really weird ones. She waited until he came over before pointing at a vase that looked like a giant fish with clown paint on its face. "You should get that one," she said, laughing.
Renji wandered over, staring at the vase she pointed out with a comically baffled expression painted all over his face. "I think I'll pass!" he said, shaking his head and looking at the others. One caught his eye and he walked over to it, picking it up carefully with one hand and inspecting it. It was quite the decorative thing, white with a red Chinese-styled dragon winding around it.
She giggled at the other vase and the look on his face for a few more moments before looking at the one he picked up. She moved a towards him to look at it closely. "Wow ... that one's pretty. It must have taken a long time for someone to make it." The flowers would definitely look nice in that.
He nodded slightly at Ino's words, looking at the details on the dragon. "Yeah... 'specially paitin' on the dragon like that." Wow, the maker had even drawn on a lot of the scales. He nodded approvingly, making his decision. "Yeah, I think I'll take this one."
Ino nodded. "The flowers will definitely look nice in that," she said, heading over to the counter to wait for him. She hoped he would pay for it himself, seeing as how he also had money and she had already bought him the flowers. Men were supposed to pay on dates, weren't they? Not that this was a date. That really was a pretty vase, though. She was almost sad she didn't have it.
Renji nodded, walking over and fishing out his wallet as he carefully balanced the flowers and vase, pulling out the money and handing it to the cashier. He wasn't one to let anyone paying for everything, not girls nor guys. After paying for the vase he nodded slightly, taking his purchase and turning towards Ino. "Anythin' else you wanted to specifically check out?"
"Nope!" she said. She exited the store before continuing. "Now we just have to find the movie theater!" she said, pumping her fist like it was an important mission. She looked around momentarily before looking back at Renji. "Maybe we should ask for directions, though ... it'd be no fun to wander around all day and maybe miss the showing time!" She looked around for a villager to ask.
Renji laughed a bit at this, nodding. "Yeah, that'd be kinda bad." He looked around as well, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Maybe we should've asked the cashier back in the store..."
"Oops," she said, realizing he was right. "Oh well..." She shrugged her shoulders, spotting another village wandering about. Ino stopped the person and asked quickly about the movie theater and whether or not there was one. The villager nodded and pointed in the opposite direction. "Thank you," Ino nodded before going back to where Renji was. "She said it's over there," she said, pointing. "Shall we?"
Renji nodded slightly, admittedly getting a bit excited about seeing a movie. Ino had said it was like TV, but if it took up two hours of someone's life it was bound to be good, right? "'Course," he answered, his voice taking on a slightly eager tone as he walked beside her.
Ino smiled. "Hopefully something good will be playing .. I wonder if they have their own actors here?" She rounded the corner, and, just as the villager had said, there was a small movie theater. She made her way over to the ticket booth. "Two adults, please," she said, paying for the tickets. She motioned for Renji to follow her into the theater, and stopped at the counter at the front where they had snacks for sale. "Want something to eat?" she asked Renji. She wouldn't have anything, but if he wanted something now was the time to get it.
Renji was about to protest her paying again, but found the words too late and sighed a bit, following her inside. Eyeing the candy, a bright grin spread on his face-- he was always one to have a big appetite. He nodded eagerly, picking out a few varieties before looking at Ino curiously. "You gonna get any?" It would be a chance to pay her back, if she was.
She shook her head. "I'm on a diet," she said, although some of the things for sale did look kind of good. She pondered for a moment before looking at the drinks. "... I guess I could go for a soda, though."
A diet? He raised a brow, but grinned slightly, nodding and picking out a soda for her before paying and handing her the drink. "Here, then," he offered, smiling slightly.
Ino smiled widely. "Thanks, Renji," she said, taking a small sip. She made her way towards the entrance to the actual theater part. "I have no idea, what's playing, but hopefully it'll at least be entertaining?"
Renji just nodded slightly at her thanks, walking with her to the room where they'd be showing the movie. "Hnn, I hope so too," he agreed, glancing about the dark interior. Why was it so dark? This factor confused him.
Ino looked around. "Wow, it's empty!" she said, dancing down the aisle a bit before coming to the middle row. "Oh well, that means we get the best seats!" She said cheerfully, sitting down. "It's supposed to start in a minute or two," she said, glancing at Renji. "Excited?" She knew she was when she went to her first movie.
Renji nodded, laughing a bit at Ino's dancing, striding after her and sitting next to her. "Yeah. S'gonna be my first movie, after all," he replied, grinning slightly. "Wonder why we're th' only ones, though." He glanced around at the empty seats curiously-- didn't anyone else enjoy movies?
"Maybe nobody else knows there's a theater?" Ino suggested, sipping her soda quietly. She blinked as the screen suddenly lit up white and began to show an ad. Great, there were ads even in this place...
Renji blinked at the ad, thinking the movie was about to begin, then frowned when he saw what it was. It was like the commercials on TV... annoying and unneeded. "Che, what's the point of ads?" he muttered, munching on some of the candy he'd bought.
Ino shrugged. "To piss people off?" she suggested, studying the screen. They looked like normal ads from home to her ... but there was no way they had the same ads here as they did at home, right? Maybe the magic stuff extended outside of the castle. She decided not to worry about it, and switched to wondering about what the actual movie would be. She blew bubbles in her soda, waiting for the commercials to be over.
Renji nodded in agreement with Ino's comment, then blinked, looking at her curiously when he kept hearing the bubbles blow up and pop in her soda. "What're you doin'?" It sounded pretty funny, a continuous chain of noises from inside the cup.
Ino glanced at him, confused for a second. "Blowing bubbles! Don't tell me you've never done it before." She put her mouth on the straw and blew into it, making a bubbling noise come from the cup. "You just blow into the straw like that."
Renji shook his head when she asked about his prior experience with blowing bubbles, amused. "Sounds funny, th' way th' noises keep pilin' up on each other." An odd way to explain it, but it worked, right?
Ino nodded. "It's fun to do with soda, though." She leaned over to look at what candy Renji had bought. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to one of the boxes he had with him.
Renji peered inside. "S'called Sour Patches, apparently. Sour at first, sweet after. They're good." He held out the box in an offering to her. "Wanna try some?" Personally, besides the chocolate he'd also bought this was his favorite candy so far.
"Hmm, okay," she said, picking one out of the box and putting it in her mouth. Quickly her eyes teared up at the sour flavor. She waved her hands around a little before finishing off the candy and exhaling in relief. "Whoa ... how do you eat those? They're so ... well, sour!"
Renji laughed at this, a grin on his face. "Yeah, took a lil' gettin' used to, but after you eat a few you get used to th' taste." He ut another of the Sour Patches in his mouth, only the slightest twinge in his eye showing that he still wasn't quite immune to the sour-ness of the candy himself yet.
Ino took another sip of soda to get rid of the sour taste in her mouth before turning back to the screen. "Ooh, I think it's gonna start soon. Probably." You never could tell with those commercials. She just hoped Renji wasn't bored ... after all, she dragged him all the way out here to do stuff that she wanted to do. He seemed to be laughing and having a good time, but even so ... the voice in the back of her head was telling her otherwise.
In all honestly, Renji was having fun. He'd needed to get out of the stuffy castle, and Ino was a fun person to be around. She'd shown him a lot of things he'd never known, and even treated him at a few points, so this was definitely a good day in his book. And she was another person he'd definitely hang out with again. He vaguely wondered if she and Rukia would get along if they met, turning his gaze back to the screen and hoping for the movie's start.
Two hours later, Ino walked out of the theater, still holding her cup. She turned to Renji, smiling. "So? What'd you think?" The movie that had played wasn't half bad, so she was satisfied. "You can watch movies on TV screens, too, but it's so much cooler on a the wide screen!"
Renji nodded slightly, grinning. That hadn't been a bad movie at all-- he didn't feel cheated out of two hours of his life, anyway. "It was good!" he agreed, then blinked in surprise at her announcement. "Really? I never saw a movie on Urahara's TV," he pondered, wondering about this.
She was glad he had enjoyed the movie, too. She wondered if maybe the magic around here made it so that the movie was always to the tastes of everyone in the theater ... it was possible, anyways. "Well, you have to have a VCR to play one ..." Ino paused. "Who's Urahara? One of those taichou people or something?"
"VCR?" He rubbed at his head, never having heard of the thing. "Oh! Well, kinda." Renji lowered his hand, shoving it into one of the pockets of the jeans he wore. "Urahara was a taichou. He got exiled a long time ago... I can't remember exactly what for. But now he runs a shop back home called Urahara Shoten, which caters to Shinigami's needs."
Ino nodded at the explanation of who Urahara was before answering the VCR question. "It's a little machine that plays movies so you can watch them whenever you want at home." She flipped her ponytail, making sure it was hanging down her back like it was supposed to before heading off in the direction of the castle. "Do you wanna stop anywhere else? I think it's getting later, so if not then we should head back."
Renji shook his head at her question. "Nah, I've got no ideas. Guess we should head back," he agreed, heading back towards the castle in the distance. He was almost sad to see the day and the outing end, but everything came to an end eventually.
Ino nodded and began walking past the buildings back to the road towards the castle. She looked over at him, trying to see if she could tell by looking whether or not he was glad to be leaving or not. Finally she just decided to ask straight out -- "So? Did you have fun today?" She smiled cheerfully, hoping he would say yes.
Renji grinned at the question, nodding. "Course! It was nice to get out of the castle and explore the town. Learned 'n saw a lot of stuff I didn't know about before, and 'sides, you're fun to hang around with," he finished, smilingly slightly.
Ino blinked, feeling a little pink in her cheeks before turning away quickly to stare at the ground. "Well, thanks!" she said, unable to keep a kind of dumb grin off her face. "Maybe we can go again sometime, then. There's so much stuff in the castle and around it, it seems like it'd be impossible to see it all."
Renji blinked, a bit confused when she suddenly looked away, but nodded. "Yeah, that'd be fun. There's a lot to find out around here, apparently." He grinned at the thought, beginning to look at the castle a little brighter now.
"Yeah," she said, her face brightening, looking back at Renji. "There's this huuuge game room ... there's so many really cool things in there." She paused. "Although I can't really remember why I was in there ... maybe I was with someone." She paused to think about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well! I remember what was in there, though -- there were these really weird things called 'holo' ... holo ... well, holosomethings." She couldn't remember the word. Holo...man? Holograph? Holo ... grain? Oh, it was no use. Maybe she'd remember if she went back in there. "Do you know what those are?"
"Holo...?" He blinked, thinking. The only thing he could think of were Hollows, and he doubt those were in the game room. "Holo... gram? Holophone?" He was making random guesses here, but maybe one would jog her memory, cause he knew he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"YES!" She said loudly. "Hologram!" Ino repeated it happily. She would have to write that word down when she got home. "Yeah, there's these holograms and you get into these little tube things and then you're in a totally different place, but you're still in the tube. I think it's called virtual reality?" She paused. "Does that make any sense?" To be honest, she didn't really know how the virtual reality thing she had been in ... for whatever reason ... how it worked, so it was difficult to explain.
Renji blinked at her explanation, honestly totally lost. "Er... kind of?" he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. How could you be in a totally different place while being in one spot? That was really odd...
Ino sighed. How to explain it. "It's like ... you get in the tube, and you wear these things ..." she made a motion with her hands as if putting goggles on her face. "... and then, all around you, you can see and hear and smell a totally different place, but your body is still in the tube. It's ... like Genjutsu. Er-- an illusion." She kept forgetting that a lot of people wouldn't know what genjutsu or shinobi or Chuunin or anything like that meant.
"So... the goggles make that happen?" he asked curiously, getting it better now. He nodded slightly. "I think I get it... that's pretty amazing. Even back in Karakura there wasn't anything like that." How advanced was this place, he wondered, compared to everywhere else.
"Well, I think so..." Ino said, putting a finger to her cheek and thinking about it. "Whoever it was that took me down there before was the one who knew how to work them." She shrugged. It was kind of pissing her off that her mind was drawing a blank when it came to who took her down there, though. "... Anyways, there were lots of amazing things in there besides that. And the library, too -- have you been in there? I'm not really one for reading books all the time, but there's so many books in there! It's crazy."
"Library? no, I haven't." It wasn't really know that Abarai Renji actually loved reading-- most of the taichous assumed he had a love for fighting more than anything else, and while this was true [thanks to his time spent in the 11th division], books were a close second. "I'll have to find that then," he said thoughtfully, nodding slightly.
"It's on the first floor, near the kitchen," she said, kicking a small rock on the path. "You like reading, then?" Hey, it was useful information to know. He seemed like he was pretty interested in the library, too.
Renji nodded, smiling slightly as he put away the location of the library for later. "Most people are surprised when they find out," he admitted, laughing a bit. Well, he pretty much was the image of a stereotypical punk... and followed the stereotype pretty well too.
"Huh? Why would they be surprised?" She tilted her head, confused. Sure, he looked like he'd be more of a fighter than an intellectual, but she didn't see why people would be surprised. People needed something to do in their free time, after all.
Renji shrugged slightly. "I don't really have the image of a reader, you know? And I do tend to jump on things quickly and get into fights," he admittedly sheepishly, grinning weakly.
Ino frowned slightly. "That's silly. Anybody who knows how to can read, doesn't matter what their personality is." She grinned at the last part. "I'm pretty guilty of that myself," she said, laughing and looking up at the castle that was growing closer. She was kind of sad that they would probably go their seperate ways soon, at least for awhile.
Renji smiled slightly at her opinion, throwing in, "Well, doesn't help that I was also in one of the most fight-hungry divisions of the Gotei 13." He laughed a bit at her admittance of having a hot temper as well, catching her shift of gaze and glancing up at the castle as well, slightly disappointed himself. There were other days, though.
"Gotei 13?" She looked at Renji curiously. "What's that? Is that the name of your shinigami group or something?" Yet another one of those other-worldly terms.
Renji nodded, chuckling sheepishly. "Kind of. You know how I mentioned I was in division six? Well, I meant six out of thirteen. There's thirteen divisions devoted to fighting off Hollows and sending souls to their proper resting grounds, though one is actually a healing division..."
"Ohh, so that's the name of the whole thing, then." She nodded and patted her thighs, which were now aching. "Ugh ... my legs hurt from walking. I guess that'll teach me to lay around for two weeks in a row," Ino said, laughing lightly.
Renji nodded slightly, laughing a bit. "Yeah. Can't 'xactly just let yourself waste away here," he teased gently, a small grin on his face. "Eventually you'll end up jello."
She put her hands on her hips, putting a little pout on. "Well, it's not like I was trying to ... I had a patient. Of sorts." She wondered what Renji would think if she told him who it was. After all, Gatts had killed several people ... who knew if Renji knew any of them.
"Ohhh~? A patient?" That was right, she'd mentioned being a medic-nin before, which was how he'd brought up Hanatarou and Unohana-taichou into conversation. "Someone who was so badly injured they needed your attention for two weeks straight?"
"Well ... something like that ... " She paused. It couldn't hurt, right? If he was going to be stupid about it, then he wasn't worth talking to in the first place, right? She turned to him and got a little closer. "... Okay. You promise you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"
Renji blinked, then nodded slightly, face turning serious. He could tell that she wasn't joking around with this. What exactly was this about...? "Yeah, I promise," he agreed. Renji was a man of his word, so it wasn't a falsely-made promise.
Ino looked around quickly before talking again, keeping her voice low. "Well ... you heard about what happened a little while before you got here, right? On the eclipse?" She was hoping he had, it would save her quite a bit of explanation that made her case sound much worse.
He paused, thinking. He hadn't heard anything about an eclipse, but... "You mean those murders?" he asked softly, feeling a bit pained. Hinamori... Hinamori had been killed, and he was supposed to care. But the damn castle...
"... Yes, that. Well, um." Ino stopped, realizing he looked a bit ... upset? Maybe that was it. Maybe he did know someone after all and this was a bad idea ... but she was sure he'd understand. "... Well. I kind of, um, know the person who did it. And ... i-it wasn't their fault, really!" She waved her hands defensively. "The person who did it ... he wears this armor that kind of makes him go crazy ... well, it's kind of complicated, but -- anyways, I used Shintenshin to get him to calm down and then took him back to my room, and I've been kind of healing him and making sure nobody comes after him ..." She looked at him, clearly very worried as to what his reaction would be.
He paused, taking in this information in silence and thinking it through, for once, before he let himself jump to conclusions and the such. The situation... it almost reminded him of Ichigo's situation with his Hollow. Before he'd been struggling continuously to keep it under control, and any damage he caused in that state he didn't mean. Renji nodded slowly at this, having to be accepting of this explanation. "I see... there's a lot of people who prolly wanna kill him, huh."
"Yeah," she said, sighing in relief. "So I haven't really left the room much or slept very much ... you know, just in case." She paused, playing with her ponytail awkwardly. "I know a lot of people are going to be mad at me and him, now that he's well enough to go around by himself and people might see him ... which is why I asked you not to tell." Ino managed a small grateful smile.
Renji nodded slightly, managing one back. "I understand the situation. 'N I'm not one to go back on my word once I've made it, so you don't have to worry." He paused, sighing softly, before adding quietly, "It just kind of makes me really how messed up this castle is."
Ino laughed quietly. "A lot of bad stuff happens sometimes, but for the most part I guess we get along okay." She placed her hand on his sleeve. "Just ... thanks so much for, you know, keeping a secret. I'm really grateful." Really, she was. She felt so much better now that she knew she could trust Renji with something like that, and telling him had seemed to lift a huge weight off her shoulders.
Renji nodded slightly, smiling a bit. "S'no problem. It's hard supportin' stuff on your own. I'm glad I could help." He was a bit surprised at how quickly he'd made a friend here-- and this had all come from a warning, too!-- but it was nice to know. he chuckled a bit, rubbing his neck. "Now, c'mon, s'gettin' kinda late. We should prolly head in."
She smiled. "Yeah, you're right." She made her way towards the big doorway that led back into the castle. Ino spun around to face him. "Hey, thanks for coming with me today, by the way."
Renji grinned slightly at this, walking after her. "Nah, thanks for invitin' me. It was fun, and it was good to get out of my room," he replied, waving off her thanks gently.
Ino grinned and opened the castle door, holding it open for Renji to go through. "I'm glad you think so," she said, pleased that he had sincerely had a good time. Her grin turned into a mishcevious one, however, as she added teasingly, "So, you think you can figure out how to get back to your room?"
Renji walked through, giving her a challenging look as he passed her. "Are you challenging me?" He was... bad with challenges, to say the least. He couldn't turn one down really, stupidly enough. It was probably a guy thiing... or something about him who knew.
"Hmm~" she kept the teasing tone of voice on and raised an eyebrow playfully. "Maybe I am~" She pulled the door shut behind her. "Think you can do it~?"
"I know I could do it," he answered back challengingly, smirking slightly. Oh yes, he was completely ignoring the logical part of his brain that was yelling at him for being such a dumbass.
"Okay, then lead the way, Renji-sama~" She grinned in response to the smirk, wondering if he really remembered where he was going or not.
.... oh. She was going to be following? His smirk dropped for a few moments at this realization, before he coughed, turning around and nodding confidentally. "S-sure! Course!" He began walking through the halls, looking for any familiar places.
Ino followed closely behind, trying to stifle any snickering that came up. Where was he going? The stairs were the other way ... she decided to point out the library as they went past. "The library's right here." The door was marked "Library", so it wasn't too hard to spot, obviously.
Renji paused at this, remembering the location and nodding slightly, not seeming to note that he was heading the wrong way... until a few seconds later where he turned quickly on his heel and went back, his face a bright red in embarrassment. "I meant this way," he muttered.
Ino's grin widened, watching him try to figure out where he was going. "Getting warmer~" she said jokingly, since he was heading in kind of the right direction this time.
"Shutup," he said, flush darkening at her taunt. He managed to reach the stairs, beginning to climb them, regretting ever taking this challenge.
She couldn't help but giggle a little. "Your face is red, you know." She looked at the stairs, following him up them. "You're getting there, though~" Once he got on the stairs, it wouldn't be hard for him to find his room ... probably. She wondered if he remembered what floor he was on.
"Iknowthat!" he said quickly, words nearly indecipherable from one another with how quick he spoke. And pointing this out wasn't helping the blush go away, either. He remember his floor, climbing the many stairs until he reached the sixteenth floor-- jeezus this castle was huge-- looking at the numbers and searching for ten.
Well, he had gotten off on the right floor, that was good. She looked around, spotting his room quickly, but waited for him to find the room. "Getting warmer ... warmer ... getting hotter ... OH, you're practically boiling," Ino teased as he got closer and closer to his room.
"SHUTUP." His face was as nearly as dark as his hair now, and he stopped in frotn of his room, smacking an open palm against the door and grinning triumphantly.... though he face was still comically red. "HA! Told'ya I could do it!"
Ino grinned, clapping. She was having a hard time holding back laughter from the look on his face. "Good job~ You get a prize!" Except ... she had no idea what to give to him. "... Got any ideas?"
She was serious about the prize? Renji blinked, lowering his hand and shaking his head, the blush finally beginning to fade. "Uhh, can't say I do..."
"Hmm..." she tapped her head for a moment, trying to think of a good prize to give him. "Well, maybe I'll think of something later?" she said, a slight hint of question in the tone. Besides, it was getting kinda late and she really should have been on her way back to her room. "But, in the meantime, see ya!" She waved cutely and started off back towards the stairs.
Renji blinked, before laughing a bit, waving. "Yeah. See ya." Turning the handle on his door he stepped inside, smiling slightly as he closed it behind him, glad to have had such a fun time out in town that day.
What: Getting to know one another better, and a bit of shopping in town.
When: After this thread.
Where: Town outside the castle, duh.
Rating: PG!
Notes: Bold = Renji
Normal = Ino
Ino hummed happily to herself as she walked up the stairs to the 16th floor to go get Renji. She was, of course, very curious about his appearance. He seemed nice enough, and it sounded like he had a lot of interesting powers. If he was attractive as well, then that would be perfect for her. She mused over this as she ascended the final flight of stairs and walked down the hall to find the correct room. 1600 ... 1605 ... 1610. She knocked on the door and announced herself cheerfully, fixing her hair. "Renji! It's Ino!"
Renji had been in the process of tying up his hair when the knock came, raising a tattooed brow and listening, then cursing quietly. That'd been quicker than he'd thought. "Hold on a minute!" he called, the words a bit muffled, since his hair tie was currently held in his teeth. Quickly finishing this process he walked to the door, opening it to greet the girl he'd been talking to over the journals as of recent. "Hey," he greeted casually, nodding to her.
She smiled, nodding back and quickly looking him over. Not bad. "See? I told you it wouldn't take very long," she said, grinning. She turned back towards the hallway, gesturing towards the stairs. "You ready, then?" She briefly wondered what the deal was with the tattoos before stepping back to allow Renji room to exit his own room. "You haven't been out of the castle yet, have you?"
Renji shook his head, stepping out and closing the door behind himself. "Nah, I haven't. I'm guessin' you have, though," he answered, glancing over at her. "So, what's the town like then?" He was wondering more what Ino might have in mind to do when they got into town, but decided to find out more than ask.
"A couple of times. They have some really nice places there, like cute little cafes and stuff." She tried to put a mental picture of the town in her head as she walked towards the staircase. "Well ... it's kinda small and there's just a bunch of little shops. And there's some small houses surrounding it. But it's all really homey and all the people there are nice. Although, they don't really talk much except to give directions." She smiled at him. "I have some things to buy and a little investigating to do," she added, in case he was curious as to what he was in for.
Renji nodded slightly at the info, raising a tattooed eyebrow at the 'investigating' part. "Investingatin'? About what?" Well, if he was curious he wouldn't hesitate to ask about what was intriguing him. He tried to remember where they were going through the castle at the same time, so he wouldn't be so clueless the next time he had to go out somewhere and he didn't have someone to lead him... as weird as that felt when it wasn't his taichou.
She began down the flight of steps, observing at the pattern in the stone steps before replying. "I need to see if they have a movie theater in town," she said. "There's a friend of mine who's never seen a movie before, or even heard of them -- if there is a theater, then I can tell him to take his girlfriend to go see a movie." She looked back at him. "Do you like movies?"
"Eh? Movie... theater?" The Shinigami blinked curiously at this, confused by the term. He'd never heard of one either, though when it came to a lot of modern-day things he was completely clueless. For a while he hadn't even heard of coffee. "What's a movie?" he asked, tilted his head a bit in questioning. If anything, it caught his interest highly.
Ino's jaw dropped. Not another one!He seemed like he would have been from a relatively modern culture, but apparently not. "You don't know either, huh?" She sighed and tried to think of a way to explain it, as she had done for Sokka. "It's like ... there's a screen," she said, holding up her fingers in a rectangle. "And a bunch of pictures are put together to make one really long moving picture with a story. Plus music and talking and all that. And all that is projected onto the screen for people's entertainment." She hoped that made sense. Maybe she would have to take him to a movie if there was a theater in town, then. It was hard to believe so many people had grown up without showers or movies or any of the things she found normal to have.
Renji listened to this in silence, trying to image it in his head. Moving pictures? Like on the television he'd sometimes watched at Urahara's... "Like... a tv?" he asked as the thought hit him, rubbing the back of his neck. She'd seemed shocked that he was confused about this, and that slightly embarrassed the redhead, since it seemed to her a common thing.
"Yes, like TV!" she said, glad that he knew something to compare it to. "Only movies are usually ... hm, like two hours long and they're first put on a HUUUGE screen," she said, spreading her arms out to indicate the size of a movie theater screen. "The whole story is usually all shown in the two hours. Well, sometimes there's sequels, but they're usually dumber than the original one." She grinned. "If there is a theater and it's playing something, then let's go. It'll be fun, I promise~!"
He blinked at this, trying to imagine it, managing to end up with a mental image of a really large TV running a show that was two hours long. He didn't really get it, but he'd supposed it was something he'd have to see to really get. He nodded slightly at her offer, grinning slightly. "Sure. Sounds like fun, anyway."
"Okay!" She said happily. By this time they had managed to get down to the first floor. She pointed in the direction of the large door that led to the road, which led to the city. "This is the main entrance. Just for future reference." She smiled and opened the door, holding it so Renji could go through. She glanced down the road, checking to see if anybody threatening was on their way to the city. She wanted this trip to be fun, not a battle, but if she saw any Akatsuki ... which she didn't. Phew.
Renji nodded slightly, walking out and glancing about curiously. He'd only seen the outside from his window, so he was curious as to what it looked like compared to Karakura. He then set his sights down the road, trying to scope out the city from where he stood, though admittedly he couldn't really see it very well-- which he wasn't really expecting in the first place, but still.
Ino walked along the road, quietly observing the surroundings for a moment before remembering how much she hated silence and quickly ran over a list of things to talk about. Parents? No. Childhood? No. Favorite color? Um ... no. Job? Ooh, that could work. She glanced over at him. "So ... what exactly do shinigami do, anyways?" It was a big topic jump from movies to shinigami, but whatever.
"Eh?" He looked at her, then thought of how to simply explain it. "Shinigami reap souls and eliminate Hollows. When we find a soul stuck in the human world we perform a soul funeral to send them on to Soul Society, so they can live peacefully." Not to mention Soul Society hadn't been really peaceful as of late but still...
"Oh," she said simply. She was reminded of Asuma-sensei's funeral. "I'd ask you if you've seen someone, but I don't know if the same thing happens in my world when people die ..." She paused, re-thinking what he had said in her head. "What's a Hollow? Is it like that big thing that attacked the castle?" She remembered someone mentioning the word "Hollow", maybe it was Yachiru. She hadn't gotten the full explanation yet, though, so she was curious.
"A Hollow is a soul that's corrupted. It's usually what happens when a Shinigami is unable to reach a soul in time, and the chain of fate connecting it to the world and the physical body eats itself. The thing that attacked the castle was a form of Hollow, yeah, but a much more powerful one than most." He paused, then said, "The last time one showed it, it took the power of three taichous to fend it off."
Ino nodded, mostly understanding his explanation. There was something she still didn't understand, though. "Just one question ... how do you fight a soul? Aren't they kind of ... uhm, not solid?" All of the targets she had ever aimed for were solid, except for some kinds of clones, so this made no sense to her.
He grinned slightly at this. "That's why we're not solid when we fight it," he replied, tugging slightly on the sleeve of the shirt his gigai wore. "See, I look human to you now, but right now I'm in what's called a 'gigai'-- false body. This isn't how a usually look." Well, clothing-wise, anyway. He kept the shocking red hair and body map of tattoos."It's what we use if we temporarily lose our powers or need to do a mission in the human world."
Ino's mouth dropped open a bit. "Wait, so you ..." A false body? That was also kind of creepy. She guessed it would probably be just as creepy to him if she did Henge, though, so she decided not to make a comment. "... What do you normally look like, then?" She really, really hoped it was similar. Or hotter, that worked too. Man, these Shinigami people were weird.
He paused, thinking. He thought about just leaving the body, but then again she couldn't see the Menos, so she probably wouldn't see him in Shinigami form either, so that would be useless. "There's not much of a change, besides wardrobe. Just black robes, which are the uniforms of Shinigami, unless you're a taichou." Even then, you only got the extra white coat with your division emblem on the back, so again not much of a change.
"Ohhh." Well, that was a relief. "You guys have uniforms, huh? Shinobi can wear pretty much whatever they want as long as they can reach this," she said, patting the pack of kunai on her leg. "And if you're able to move around easily, obviously." She thought about the whole gigai thing for a moment before asking, "So, if you're just in a fake body and you're not solid, doesn't that make you dead?" That would certainly explain why he didn't know what a movie was, if he had been dead for awhile.
He raised a brow at the pack, but nodded slightly. He'd heard the term from Soi Fong-taichou, who ran the recon division of Soul Society. "Yeah, which is why I live in Soul Society," he answered, nodding slightly. "We wear these so that we're able to be seen by everyone... though I'm still wondering how I got into mine," he muttered as an afterthought. After all, he'd last been out of it, so how had his body suddenly been fetched and his soul shoved into it?
"Wow, that's kind of weird ..." she said, not to the gigai comment but the fact that he really was dead. And she was talking to a dead person. She was sure she'd get over it eventually, but for now it was still kind of strange. She noticed, however, that they were almost into the town now. "Must be something to do with Paradisa," she said to his wondering. "Although, a lot of people who were dead before they came here are alive, I wonder why you didn't just come back to life instead of being put in the gigai thing?" She looked around, looking for the first place she wanted to go to.
He shrugged slightly. "Guessed it's cause I've been dead for an extended period of time, or cause I still kinda live on in my spirit form." After all, he did run around cutting down Hollows for a living as a spirit. He glanced around as they entered the town, going back to his inquisitive state at all the buildings and houses. Karakura was like this, but not as close-packed as this place was.
"Oh, that's true," she commented. She spotted a small shop that was off to the left, and began to walk that way before turning to look at Renji. "Hey, let's go in there," she said. "Oh, unless there's something over there you want to look at," Ino added, remembering that it was his first time in town.
"Mmn?" He gazed at the store Ino had pointed out, then shook his head, heading in with her. "Nah, nothin' in particular looks interestin' from the outside yet." Besides, she was the one who'd invited him, not the other way around. And who knew what'd be for sale in here? .... speaking of sale, what currency did these people take? A confused look swept over his face at the thought. And how exactly did you earn it?
Ino went into the store happily. Shopping was her hobby, after all, so she was having a great time already. The store she had chosen looked to be a store full of plates and cups and cutlery and the like. She found something she liked right away, though, not wanting to bore Renji. She paused to look at a set of teacups with a matching teapot that had a very exotic-looking pattern on it. She pointed to it. "Isn't it pretty?" she asked. She wondered if he passed shopping off as stupid like most guys seemed to do.
Honestly, Renji didn't really hang around people who dragged him shopping [what shopping did he do anyway? Besides Urahara's store, he'd never really stepped foot in one], so he was as curious as ever. He'd picked up and been inspecting a plate when she spoke, glancing over his shoulder as he set the patterned plate down. "Looks nice," he admitted, looking at the design interestedly. Maybe it was something someone like Ukitake-taichou would like-- the man did love his tea, after all.
Ino grinned. He was looking around, too! She let out a short laugh before picking up another teapot next to it. "I think you're the first guy I've met that doesn't think shopping is the most pointless thing in the world," she commented. She was also wondering what his view on flowers was ... hm. Maybe she'd have to stop by a flower store, too. She decided on the first set she had looked at and carefully brought the box up to the counter, paying with the money that had magically appeared in her wallet. It was almost too awesome for words that she had unlimited money to go shopping with.
Renji blinked at this, surprised when she just suddenly produced money out of nowhere. Did she have a job here or something? "Oi... where'd you get the money?" he asked, scratching his head. It made him wonder how long Ino had been here, too, if it did happen that she held a job here.
She took the bag with the tea set in it from the cashier before turning to Renji. "What do you mean, where did --" Oh, wait. He was new here. She forgot to explain. "Oh, right. Well, the money just kind of appears in your wallet whenever you need it. Cool, huh?" She grinned and exited the store, looking up and down the street for another store. Did this city even have a flower shop?
Renji blinked in surprise at this simple answer, following after her. "It... appears? Just like that?" That was... really odd. He'd never heard of such a thing happening. He was having wondering if he opened his wallet right now, if he would see the money just like he said. The redhead provided an amusing sight as he dug for his own wallet, finding it and opening it, eyes widening like a kid in a candy store as Ino's words were proven true. "Whoa."
"Just like that." Ino giggled at the look on his face. "What, you didn't believe me? But yeah, it's really convenient, especially if you buy stuff a lot." She kept looking, not seeing any flower shop. Oh, wait, was that one on the end? She pulled Renji's sleeve gently and pointed down the road. "I think there's a flower shop down that way ... do you like flowers at all?"
He blinked at the tug on his sleeve, looking up as he closed his wallet, gaze following where she pointed. "Flowers..." It wasn't like he loved them, but he didn't hate them either. There were certain types he like, and he admitted floral patterns looked nice on yukatas and kimonos. So he nodded, looking back at her. "Planning on going there next?"
"I think so. It might be fun to see how the flower shops here compare." She started heading that way, and realized he probably didn't know what she meant by 'compare'. "Oh -- my family at home runs a flower shop. So, I'm trained in ikebana and all that," Ino said, stopping in front of the small place. It was a small stand, really, not even a shop. The flowers were still pretty, though, so she picked a few out of the containers they were sitting in. "See, first you take a centerpiece ..." she picked up a cosmos flower, vaguely reminded of her conversation with Sakura long ago. "And then you take some other less pretty things," Ino pulled out a few tiny flowers that were mostly leaves. "... and you put them together, and you have a bouquet." She held the bunch of flowers in front of her for Renji to see.
Renji looked at the bouquet for a few moments, then nodded slightly. He admitted it did look nice. "Like... this?" He paused, glancing over the flowers for a moments before picking out a few roses, then a few other bunches of small flowers, glancing at the finished product. It looked a bit funny to him, but then again he wasn't exactly an expert in the field of flowers and bouquet making. He was also beginning to wonder what the other SHinigami would say, should they see him attempting to organize flowers, but it was quickly pushed out of his mind.
Ino laughed, pleased that he had tried it himself. "Kind of," she said, and took the bunches of smaller flowers away and put them back where they had come from. "You've got the right idea, but the smaller flowers have to complement the big ones." She pulled out a few even smaller flowers that fit around the roses better and brought out the color better and put them where the other ones were in Renji's hands. "Ta-da!" she said, before turning to the person running the stand. "I'll take both of these," she said, pointing to both bouquets and then paying for them promptly.
Renji looked at the new bouquet and nodded slightly-- it looked better than before. He just didn't have an eye for this stuff when trying it himself, really. He blinked as she talked to the vendor, turning to Ino. "Oi, I..." Where would he keep these? He didn't have a vase or anything in his room, so how could he keep them alive for long if he didn't have water?
She put her wallet away again and looked at Renji. He looked confused ... maybe he didn't want the flowers? "What's wrong?" Ino asked.
"I... don't exactly know where I'd put 'em," he muttered, glancing at the flowers he held. "Don't have anythin' to put 'em in." Honestly, the fukutaichou was beginning to look like a confused, slightly disappointed kid.
"Ah!" So that was the problem. "You need a vase, then," she said, looking around for a place that might have one. Ah, there was a place that had pottery, maybe that would have vases. She pointed to the store she had found. "I think you can get vases there," she said, heading over in that direction hoping that Renji would follow.
Renji nodded, following after her quickly as he began to walk, so far enjoying this trip into town with Ino. As they entered the store he began looking about curiously again, looking at the various wares the owner was offering up for sale, as well as trying to locate where the vases could be.
Ino stood on her tiptoes, surveying the aisles before seeing what looked to be vases in one of them. She walked over to that aisle, and sure enough, there were some vases. Lots of different kinds of vases, too. "Over here, Renji!" she said, taking in the many different shapes and sizes. There were some pretty plain vases, and also some really weird ones. She waited until he came over before pointing at a vase that looked like a giant fish with clown paint on its face. "You should get that one," she said, laughing.
Renji wandered over, staring at the vase she pointed out with a comically baffled expression painted all over his face. "I think I'll pass!" he said, shaking his head and looking at the others. One caught his eye and he walked over to it, picking it up carefully with one hand and inspecting it. It was quite the decorative thing, white with a red Chinese-styled dragon winding around it.
She giggled at the other vase and the look on his face for a few more moments before looking at the one he picked up. She moved a towards him to look at it closely. "Wow ... that one's pretty. It must have taken a long time for someone to make it." The flowers would definitely look nice in that.
He nodded slightly at Ino's words, looking at the details on the dragon. "Yeah... 'specially paitin' on the dragon like that." Wow, the maker had even drawn on a lot of the scales. He nodded approvingly, making his decision. "Yeah, I think I'll take this one."
Ino nodded. "The flowers will definitely look nice in that," she said, heading over to the counter to wait for him. She hoped he would pay for it himself, seeing as how he also had money and she had already bought him the flowers. Men were supposed to pay on dates, weren't they? Not that this was a date. That really was a pretty vase, though. She was almost sad she didn't have it.
Renji nodded, walking over and fishing out his wallet as he carefully balanced the flowers and vase, pulling out the money and handing it to the cashier. He wasn't one to let anyone paying for everything, not girls nor guys. After paying for the vase he nodded slightly, taking his purchase and turning towards Ino. "Anythin' else you wanted to specifically check out?"
"Nope!" she said. She exited the store before continuing. "Now we just have to find the movie theater!" she said, pumping her fist like it was an important mission. She looked around momentarily before looking back at Renji. "Maybe we should ask for directions, though ... it'd be no fun to wander around all day and maybe miss the showing time!" She looked around for a villager to ask.
Renji laughed a bit at this, nodding. "Yeah, that'd be kinda bad." He looked around as well, tilting his head thoughtfully. "Maybe we should've asked the cashier back in the store..."
"Oops," she said, realizing he was right. "Oh well..." She shrugged her shoulders, spotting another village wandering about. Ino stopped the person and asked quickly about the movie theater and whether or not there was one. The villager nodded and pointed in the opposite direction. "Thank you," Ino nodded before going back to where Renji was. "She said it's over there," she said, pointing. "Shall we?"
Renji nodded slightly, admittedly getting a bit excited about seeing a movie. Ino had said it was like TV, but if it took up two hours of someone's life it was bound to be good, right? "'Course," he answered, his voice taking on a slightly eager tone as he walked beside her.
Ino smiled. "Hopefully something good will be playing .. I wonder if they have their own actors here?" She rounded the corner, and, just as the villager had said, there was a small movie theater. She made her way over to the ticket booth. "Two adults, please," she said, paying for the tickets. She motioned for Renji to follow her into the theater, and stopped at the counter at the front where they had snacks for sale. "Want something to eat?" she asked Renji. She wouldn't have anything, but if he wanted something now was the time to get it.
Renji was about to protest her paying again, but found the words too late and sighed a bit, following her inside. Eyeing the candy, a bright grin spread on his face-- he was always one to have a big appetite. He nodded eagerly, picking out a few varieties before looking at Ino curiously. "You gonna get any?" It would be a chance to pay her back, if she was.
She shook her head. "I'm on a diet," she said, although some of the things for sale did look kind of good. She pondered for a moment before looking at the drinks. "... I guess I could go for a soda, though."
A diet? He raised a brow, but grinned slightly, nodding and picking out a soda for her before paying and handing her the drink. "Here, then," he offered, smiling slightly.
Ino smiled widely. "Thanks, Renji," she said, taking a small sip. She made her way towards the entrance to the actual theater part. "I have no idea, what's playing, but hopefully it'll at least be entertaining?"
Renji just nodded slightly at her thanks, walking with her to the room where they'd be showing the movie. "Hnn, I hope so too," he agreed, glancing about the dark interior. Why was it so dark? This factor confused him.
Ino looked around. "Wow, it's empty!" she said, dancing down the aisle a bit before coming to the middle row. "Oh well, that means we get the best seats!" She said cheerfully, sitting down. "It's supposed to start in a minute or two," she said, glancing at Renji. "Excited?" She knew she was when she went to her first movie.
Renji nodded, laughing a bit at Ino's dancing, striding after her and sitting next to her. "Yeah. S'gonna be my first movie, after all," he replied, grinning slightly. "Wonder why we're th' only ones, though." He glanced around at the empty seats curiously-- didn't anyone else enjoy movies?
"Maybe nobody else knows there's a theater?" Ino suggested, sipping her soda quietly. She blinked as the screen suddenly lit up white and began to show an ad. Great, there were ads even in this place...
Renji blinked at the ad, thinking the movie was about to begin, then frowned when he saw what it was. It was like the commercials on TV... annoying and unneeded. "Che, what's the point of ads?" he muttered, munching on some of the candy he'd bought.
Ino shrugged. "To piss people off?" she suggested, studying the screen. They looked like normal ads from home to her ... but there was no way they had the same ads here as they did at home, right? Maybe the magic stuff extended outside of the castle. She decided not to worry about it, and switched to wondering about what the actual movie would be. She blew bubbles in her soda, waiting for the commercials to be over.
Renji nodded in agreement with Ino's comment, then blinked, looking at her curiously when he kept hearing the bubbles blow up and pop in her soda. "What're you doin'?" It sounded pretty funny, a continuous chain of noises from inside the cup.
Ino glanced at him, confused for a second. "Blowing bubbles! Don't tell me you've never done it before." She put her mouth on the straw and blew into it, making a bubbling noise come from the cup. "You just blow into the straw like that."
Renji shook his head when she asked about his prior experience with blowing bubbles, amused. "Sounds funny, th' way th' noises keep pilin' up on each other." An odd way to explain it, but it worked, right?
Ino nodded. "It's fun to do with soda, though." She leaned over to look at what candy Renji had bought. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to one of the boxes he had with him.
Renji peered inside. "S'called Sour Patches, apparently. Sour at first, sweet after. They're good." He held out the box in an offering to her. "Wanna try some?" Personally, besides the chocolate he'd also bought this was his favorite candy so far.
"Hmm, okay," she said, picking one out of the box and putting it in her mouth. Quickly her eyes teared up at the sour flavor. She waved her hands around a little before finishing off the candy and exhaling in relief. "Whoa ... how do you eat those? They're so ... well, sour!"
Renji laughed at this, a grin on his face. "Yeah, took a lil' gettin' used to, but after you eat a few you get used to th' taste." He ut another of the Sour Patches in his mouth, only the slightest twinge in his eye showing that he still wasn't quite immune to the sour-ness of the candy himself yet.
Ino took another sip of soda to get rid of the sour taste in her mouth before turning back to the screen. "Ooh, I think it's gonna start soon. Probably." You never could tell with those commercials. She just hoped Renji wasn't bored ... after all, she dragged him all the way out here to do stuff that she wanted to do. He seemed to be laughing and having a good time, but even so ... the voice in the back of her head was telling her otherwise.
In all honestly, Renji was having fun. He'd needed to get out of the stuffy castle, and Ino was a fun person to be around. She'd shown him a lot of things he'd never known, and even treated him at a few points, so this was definitely a good day in his book. And she was another person he'd definitely hang out with again. He vaguely wondered if she and Rukia would get along if they met, turning his gaze back to the screen and hoping for the movie's start.
Two hours later, Ino walked out of the theater, still holding her cup. She turned to Renji, smiling. "So? What'd you think?" The movie that had played wasn't half bad, so she was satisfied. "You can watch movies on TV screens, too, but it's so much cooler on a the wide screen!"
Renji nodded slightly, grinning. That hadn't been a bad movie at all-- he didn't feel cheated out of two hours of his life, anyway. "It was good!" he agreed, then blinked in surprise at her announcement. "Really? I never saw a movie on Urahara's TV," he pondered, wondering about this.
She was glad he had enjoyed the movie, too. She wondered if maybe the magic around here made it so that the movie was always to the tastes of everyone in the theater ... it was possible, anyways. "Well, you have to have a VCR to play one ..." Ino paused. "Who's Urahara? One of those taichou people or something?"
"VCR?" He rubbed at his head, never having heard of the thing. "Oh! Well, kinda." Renji lowered his hand, shoving it into one of the pockets of the jeans he wore. "Urahara was a taichou. He got exiled a long time ago... I can't remember exactly what for. But now he runs a shop back home called Urahara Shoten, which caters to Shinigami's needs."
Ino nodded at the explanation of who Urahara was before answering the VCR question. "It's a little machine that plays movies so you can watch them whenever you want at home." She flipped her ponytail, making sure it was hanging down her back like it was supposed to before heading off in the direction of the castle. "Do you wanna stop anywhere else? I think it's getting later, so if not then we should head back."
Renji shook his head at her question. "Nah, I've got no ideas. Guess we should head back," he agreed, heading back towards the castle in the distance. He was almost sad to see the day and the outing end, but everything came to an end eventually.
Ino nodded and began walking past the buildings back to the road towards the castle. She looked over at him, trying to see if she could tell by looking whether or not he was glad to be leaving or not. Finally she just decided to ask straight out -- "So? Did you have fun today?" She smiled cheerfully, hoping he would say yes.
Renji grinned at the question, nodding. "Course! It was nice to get out of the castle and explore the town. Learned 'n saw a lot of stuff I didn't know about before, and 'sides, you're fun to hang around with," he finished, smilingly slightly.
Ino blinked, feeling a little pink in her cheeks before turning away quickly to stare at the ground. "Well, thanks!" she said, unable to keep a kind of dumb grin off her face. "Maybe we can go again sometime, then. There's so much stuff in the castle and around it, it seems like it'd be impossible to see it all."
Renji blinked, a bit confused when she suddenly looked away, but nodded. "Yeah, that'd be fun. There's a lot to find out around here, apparently." He grinned at the thought, beginning to look at the castle a little brighter now.
"Yeah," she said, her face brightening, looking back at Renji. "There's this huuuge game room ... there's so many really cool things in there." She paused. "Although I can't really remember why I was in there ... maybe I was with someone." She paused to think about it for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. "Oh well! I remember what was in there, though -- there were these really weird things called 'holo' ... holo ... well, holosomethings." She couldn't remember the word. Holo...man? Holograph? Holo ... grain? Oh, it was no use. Maybe she'd remember if she went back in there. "Do you know what those are?"
"Holo...?" He blinked, thinking. The only thing he could think of were Hollows, and he doubt those were in the game room. "Holo... gram? Holophone?" He was making random guesses here, but maybe one would jog her memory, cause he knew he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"YES!" She said loudly. "Hologram!" Ino repeated it happily. She would have to write that word down when she got home. "Yeah, there's these holograms and you get into these little tube things and then you're in a totally different place, but you're still in the tube. I think it's called virtual reality?" She paused. "Does that make any sense?" To be honest, she didn't really know how the virtual reality thing she had been in ... for whatever reason ... how it worked, so it was difficult to explain.
Renji blinked at her explanation, honestly totally lost. "Er... kind of?" he said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. How could you be in a totally different place while being in one spot? That was really odd...
Ino sighed. How to explain it. "It's like ... you get in the tube, and you wear these things ..." she made a motion with her hands as if putting goggles on her face. "... and then, all around you, you can see and hear and smell a totally different place, but your body is still in the tube. It's ... like Genjutsu. Er-- an illusion." She kept forgetting that a lot of people wouldn't know what genjutsu or shinobi or Chuunin or anything like that meant.
"So... the goggles make that happen?" he asked curiously, getting it better now. He nodded slightly. "I think I get it... that's pretty amazing. Even back in Karakura there wasn't anything like that." How advanced was this place, he wondered, compared to everywhere else.
"Well, I think so..." Ino said, putting a finger to her cheek and thinking about it. "Whoever it was that took me down there before was the one who knew how to work them." She shrugged. It was kind of pissing her off that her mind was drawing a blank when it came to who took her down there, though. "... Anyways, there were lots of amazing things in there besides that. And the library, too -- have you been in there? I'm not really one for reading books all the time, but there's so many books in there! It's crazy."
"Library? no, I haven't." It wasn't really know that Abarai Renji actually loved reading-- most of the taichous assumed he had a love for fighting more than anything else, and while this was true [thanks to his time spent in the 11th division], books were a close second. "I'll have to find that then," he said thoughtfully, nodding slightly.
"It's on the first floor, near the kitchen," she said, kicking a small rock on the path. "You like reading, then?" Hey, it was useful information to know. He seemed like he was pretty interested in the library, too.
Renji nodded, smiling slightly as he put away the location of the library for later. "Most people are surprised when they find out," he admitted, laughing a bit. Well, he pretty much was the image of a stereotypical punk... and followed the stereotype pretty well too.
"Huh? Why would they be surprised?" She tilted her head, confused. Sure, he looked like he'd be more of a fighter than an intellectual, but she didn't see why people would be surprised. People needed something to do in their free time, after all.
Renji shrugged slightly. "I don't really have the image of a reader, you know? And I do tend to jump on things quickly and get into fights," he admittedly sheepishly, grinning weakly.
Ino frowned slightly. "That's silly. Anybody who knows how to can read, doesn't matter what their personality is." She grinned at the last part. "I'm pretty guilty of that myself," she said, laughing and looking up at the castle that was growing closer. She was kind of sad that they would probably go their seperate ways soon, at least for awhile.
Renji smiled slightly at her opinion, throwing in, "Well, doesn't help that I was also in one of the most fight-hungry divisions of the Gotei 13." He laughed a bit at her admittance of having a hot temper as well, catching her shift of gaze and glancing up at the castle as well, slightly disappointed himself. There were other days, though.
"Gotei 13?" She looked at Renji curiously. "What's that? Is that the name of your shinigami group or something?" Yet another one of those other-worldly terms.
Renji nodded, chuckling sheepishly. "Kind of. You know how I mentioned I was in division six? Well, I meant six out of thirteen. There's thirteen divisions devoted to fighting off Hollows and sending souls to their proper resting grounds, though one is actually a healing division..."
"Ohh, so that's the name of the whole thing, then." She nodded and patted her thighs, which were now aching. "Ugh ... my legs hurt from walking. I guess that'll teach me to lay around for two weeks in a row," Ino said, laughing lightly.
Renji nodded slightly, laughing a bit. "Yeah. Can't 'xactly just let yourself waste away here," he teased gently, a small grin on his face. "Eventually you'll end up jello."
She put her hands on her hips, putting a little pout on. "Well, it's not like I was trying to ... I had a patient. Of sorts." She wondered what Renji would think if she told him who it was. After all, Gatts had killed several people ... who knew if Renji knew any of them.
"Ohhh~? A patient?" That was right, she'd mentioned being a medic-nin before, which was how he'd brought up Hanatarou and Unohana-taichou into conversation. "Someone who was so badly injured they needed your attention for two weeks straight?"
"Well ... something like that ... " She paused. It couldn't hurt, right? If he was going to be stupid about it, then he wasn't worth talking to in the first place, right? She turned to him and got a little closer. "... Okay. You promise you won't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you?"
Renji blinked, then nodded slightly, face turning serious. He could tell that she wasn't joking around with this. What exactly was this about...? "Yeah, I promise," he agreed. Renji was a man of his word, so it wasn't a falsely-made promise.
Ino looked around quickly before talking again, keeping her voice low. "Well ... you heard about what happened a little while before you got here, right? On the eclipse?" She was hoping he had, it would save her quite a bit of explanation that made her case sound much worse.
He paused, thinking. He hadn't heard anything about an eclipse, but... "You mean those murders?" he asked softly, feeling a bit pained. Hinamori... Hinamori had been killed, and he was supposed to care. But the damn castle...
"... Yes, that. Well, um." Ino stopped, realizing he looked a bit ... upset? Maybe that was it. Maybe he did know someone after all and this was a bad idea ... but she was sure he'd understand. "... Well. I kind of, um, know the person who did it. And ... i-it wasn't their fault, really!" She waved her hands defensively. "The person who did it ... he wears this armor that kind of makes him go crazy ... well, it's kind of complicated, but -- anyways, I used Shintenshin to get him to calm down and then took him back to my room, and I've been kind of healing him and making sure nobody comes after him ..." She looked at him, clearly very worried as to what his reaction would be.
He paused, taking in this information in silence and thinking it through, for once, before he let himself jump to conclusions and the such. The situation... it almost reminded him of Ichigo's situation with his Hollow. Before he'd been struggling continuously to keep it under control, and any damage he caused in that state he didn't mean. Renji nodded slowly at this, having to be accepting of this explanation. "I see... there's a lot of people who prolly wanna kill him, huh."
"Yeah," she said, sighing in relief. "So I haven't really left the room much or slept very much ... you know, just in case." She paused, playing with her ponytail awkwardly. "I know a lot of people are going to be mad at me and him, now that he's well enough to go around by himself and people might see him ... which is why I asked you not to tell." Ino managed a small grateful smile.
Renji nodded slightly, managing one back. "I understand the situation. 'N I'm not one to go back on my word once I've made it, so you don't have to worry." He paused, sighing softly, before adding quietly, "It just kind of makes me really how messed up this castle is."
Ino laughed quietly. "A lot of bad stuff happens sometimes, but for the most part I guess we get along okay." She placed her hand on his sleeve. "Just ... thanks so much for, you know, keeping a secret. I'm really grateful." Really, she was. She felt so much better now that she knew she could trust Renji with something like that, and telling him had seemed to lift a huge weight off her shoulders.
Renji nodded slightly, smiling a bit. "S'no problem. It's hard supportin' stuff on your own. I'm glad I could help." He was a bit surprised at how quickly he'd made a friend here-- and this had all come from a warning, too!-- but it was nice to know. he chuckled a bit, rubbing his neck. "Now, c'mon, s'gettin' kinda late. We should prolly head in."
She smiled. "Yeah, you're right." She made her way towards the big doorway that led back into the castle. Ino spun around to face him. "Hey, thanks for coming with me today, by the way."
Renji grinned slightly at this, walking after her. "Nah, thanks for invitin' me. It was fun, and it was good to get out of my room," he replied, waving off her thanks gently.
Ino grinned and opened the castle door, holding it open for Renji to go through. "I'm glad you think so," she said, pleased that he had sincerely had a good time. Her grin turned into a mishcevious one, however, as she added teasingly, "So, you think you can figure out how to get back to your room?"
Renji walked through, giving her a challenging look as he passed her. "Are you challenging me?" He was... bad with challenges, to say the least. He couldn't turn one down really, stupidly enough. It was probably a guy thiing... or something about him who knew.
"Hmm~" she kept the teasing tone of voice on and raised an eyebrow playfully. "Maybe I am~" She pulled the door shut behind her. "Think you can do it~?"
"I know I could do it," he answered back challengingly, smirking slightly. Oh yes, he was completely ignoring the logical part of his brain that was yelling at him for being such a dumbass.
"Okay, then lead the way, Renji-sama~" She grinned in response to the smirk, wondering if he really remembered where he was going or not.
.... oh. She was going to be following? His smirk dropped for a few moments at this realization, before he coughed, turning around and nodding confidentally. "S-sure! Course!" He began walking through the halls, looking for any familiar places.
Ino followed closely behind, trying to stifle any snickering that came up. Where was he going? The stairs were the other way ... she decided to point out the library as they went past. "The library's right here." The door was marked "Library", so it wasn't too hard to spot, obviously.
Renji paused at this, remembering the location and nodding slightly, not seeming to note that he was heading the wrong way... until a few seconds later where he turned quickly on his heel and went back, his face a bright red in embarrassment. "I meant this way," he muttered.
Ino's grin widened, watching him try to figure out where he was going. "Getting warmer~" she said jokingly, since he was heading in kind of the right direction this time.
"Shutup," he said, flush darkening at her taunt. He managed to reach the stairs, beginning to climb them, regretting ever taking this challenge.
She couldn't help but giggle a little. "Your face is red, you know." She looked at the stairs, following him up them. "You're getting there, though~" Once he got on the stairs, it wouldn't be hard for him to find his room ... probably. She wondered if he remembered what floor he was on.
"Iknowthat!" he said quickly, words nearly indecipherable from one another with how quick he spoke. And pointing this out wasn't helping the blush go away, either. He remember his floor, climbing the many stairs until he reached the sixteenth floor-- jeezus this castle was huge-- looking at the numbers and searching for ten.
Well, he had gotten off on the right floor, that was good. She looked around, spotting his room quickly, but waited for him to find the room. "Getting warmer ... warmer ... getting hotter ... OH, you're practically boiling," Ino teased as he got closer and closer to his room.
"SHUTUP." His face was as nearly as dark as his hair now, and he stopped in frotn of his room, smacking an open palm against the door and grinning triumphantly.... though he face was still comically red. "HA! Told'ya I could do it!"
Ino grinned, clapping. She was having a hard time holding back laughter from the look on his face. "Good job~ You get a prize!" Except ... she had no idea what to give to him. "... Got any ideas?"
She was serious about the prize? Renji blinked, lowering his hand and shaking his head, the blush finally beginning to fade. "Uhh, can't say I do..."
"Hmm..." she tapped her head for a moment, trying to think of a good prize to give him. "Well, maybe I'll think of something later?" she said, a slight hint of question in the tone. Besides, it was getting kinda late and she really should have been on her way back to her room. "But, in the meantime, see ya!" She waved cutely and started off back towards the stairs.
Renji blinked, before laughing a bit, waving. "Yeah. See ya." Turning the handle on his door he stepped inside, smiling slightly as he closed it behind him, glad to have had such a fun time out in town that day.
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But this was seriously cute!