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[aibolition]

5005 Apple Pie Place

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[aibolition]

If anything, the shade of that smile gets him even more suspicious. There's a moment where he falters and he can imagine the particular pull of that smile like it's on his own face. It's just a moment where his eyes are a little wider and his brows are furrowed, then it passes. He doesn't ask.

He follows by her side, tucking his hands into his pockets. "Really?" He asks. Then, "Geez, this place just gets more and more like a fever dream." Only he knows now that it isn't. Learned that lesson in the forest. "The ratio of freaks here is already seeming to be pretty high too."

He hadn't notice the street names. He'd been busy, and long out of habit caring for such details as that.

[taiyounoyou]

"That's not nice," she scolds, but there's a laugh in her tone and no denial in her words. She's met a lot of strange people in this village, as well. Nice! But strange.

The conversation comes a little easier as they go. "Who have you met so far? Anyone interesting?"

[aibolition]

He scoffs, but her laugh earns something of a smirk. She's not denying it's true.

He looks up as he tries to recall people he'd all but shoved out of mind. "Bulky blonde guy in a stupid suit, looks like he's from an old American movie. Some Frankenstein looking girl back in the forest. Guy pale as a corpse-- Jasper-- making like he's some kind of frigin' magician. Grey lady with horns and red eyes up in a tree telling me I smell like strawberries." He bristles all over again and then shakes his head. "Like I said; Freaks. Have any of them bothered you yet?"

[taiyounoyou]

Huh. Those were some weird sounding people, though she recognizes only one of them so far. It's not like she's been here for very long, though.

"Bothered? No." No one has bothered her yet, though there's been some rather bizarre situations already. "There was a man in the wishing pond earlier. Nothing but his birthday suit, fishing stones out of the pond. He was collecting them for some kind of test, I think."

[aibolition]

He balks.

"Wait, what? You found a guy wandering around naked and collecting rocks? why? Do I want to know?"

[taiyounoyou]

She gives a shrug of her shoulders, not nearly as bothered as he seems to be. "Collecting rocks out of a pond. Supposedly, if you make a wish and toss a stone in, the god here might grant that wish. I think he was testing the stones to see if there was anything special about them. His clothes were on the shore, so I guess he didn't want to get them wet?" Though why he didn't just invest in a pair of swimtrunks is beyond her.

They reach the front door of her house, and she opens it for him to let him inside. "He asked me to make a wish for his tests, so I helped him out."

[aibolition]

The incredulous expression he'd been wearing before has not left him. If anything, his squinting only increases.

"Okay, first off; You shouldn't just be out helping random naked men!" He says. Geez.

"Second, are you saying actual granting or just some superstitious nonsense? Why couldn't he make a wish himself?"

[taiyounoyou]

She laughs a little. "It's not that big of a deal. It's not like like I haven't seen a naked man before." Her smile turns more sly with a hint of mischief, as she adds: "Else you wouldn't be here at all, now would you?"

But to his other questions, she just shrugs. "He might have made his own wishes, I don't know. Nothing happened when I tossed the stone in, but I don't think it's supposed to be instantaneous."

This icon is so much more dramatic but it's as close as it gets

[aibolition]

His face is one of absolute disgust as his words rush out. "No! No, no, no! We are not talking about this!" He puts his hands to his ears and presses. "You are not so much as hinting what you're trying to! I am perfectly happy never ever having so much as an impression of that image in my head and I intend to keep it that way!"

He shudders, because it's already too late. This is the worst thing that has ever happened to him.

"Sounds like nonsense," He mutters after a moment, at last latching to that change in topic.

[taiyounoyou]

His reaction is more priceless than she had hoped. She starts laughing and finds that she can't stop. It's not as funny as all of that, but there's a level of stress that unwinds with the laughter. Apparently, it was something that she really needed.

"Okay, okay," she concedes, once she has the breath to. A few tears are wiped from the corners of her eyes. "I'll try not to torture you with anything unnecessary." Try being the operative word here. She can't promise that she won't want to needle him about it later.

She gives him a nudge into the house, just a hand placed against his back. "Come on. Let's get inside and I'll tell you about the wish instead."

[aibolition]

He frowns at her, not trusting her try.

(But she's laughing. He does guess that's better.)

He's unused to contact, especially like this. He can't think through it, whether to jerk away or stay still. But even more affecting is the scene before him.

His breath pulls audibly and he forgets all else, including her for a brief moment. He walks slow into the house, taking in everything, and stopping only as he reaches the counter. His hand is out running over the smooth counter top, feeling the texture for himself.

Over there, the TV. And the table there he passed by. The sunlight beams through golden and hazy. He can almost hear the noises missing. Almost. "...It's like home..." He breathes. One wall is empty where it shouldn't be (or should?) and so his eyes travel back to her.

[taiyounoyou]

It doesn't cross her mind until just then that this might be something wounding to him, too. The shape of the room is a little off, and the doors aren't positioned where they should be, but the color of the walls and the placement of the furniture and the living spaces... It's near perfect. She catches his breathy whisper as she shuts the door behind him, taking off her shoes and her jacket a moment later.

"Yeah... It was like this when I woke this morning. I think that was in the letter. Something about wanting us to be comfortable." It's a little too uncanny to be comfortable yet, but she's not sure that she would want it any other way. She loves the memories that she made in this house. She just wishes the people she made them with were here to share them.

Is that what he's thinking about, too? Or is he just remembering the memories that Ichigo gave to him. Shared with him? She's still not sure exactly how all of that shook down. His outburst from earlier still lingers in the back of her mind--My life! My body! My name!--but she doesn't know how to fit that piece into the whole. It's not possible for a soul to just split like that. Into two equal pieces... Is it?

"Here, I'll set a place for you," she says, shaking herself out of her own thoughts. Keeping her hands busy keeps her from dwelling on anything for too long. She pulls another set of dishes from the cabinet, bringing them back to the table and laying them out for him. It's a simple meal: Just some curry rice and some of the miso soup from earlier.

"I hope it's alright. The letter this morning mentioned fruits and vegetables and meat wouldn't be provided. We'll have to grow or hunt for our own."

[aibolition]

It's not perfect, but it's close. It's not the same as what he remembers, but this isn't something vicarious. He wouldn't say it's not a wound but... it's kind of nice too. And very disarming seeing his washed out body in contrast.

He catches her taking off her shoes and only then looks down at his own bare feet, still white, still black nailed, still missing his claws. She probably won't care about a little dirt.

What's more concerning is that this being, too, seems to know the way things are supposed to be. Not enough to make it the same, but enough for them to know. But this one saved her, he reminds himself, as his mouth presses to a line.

He starts as she speaks again, moving easily and instinctively for Ichigo's spot at the table. Then stops as the chair's pulled part way out. Should... he find another place? Should he-- Oh what the hell does it matter? Where she sets the dishes, he goes, be that where he was or beside her.

"Are you kidding? You've made me two meals in a day. As long as it's not dirt, I'm sure it's fantastic," he says, a grin coming through. Though he does pause looking down thoughtfully. "... Becoming a farmer really shouldn't be so high on the list of unbelievable things I'd see myself caught up in all things considered but here we are I guess." Hunting for food now, isn't that just quaint. "Hunting for meat, that's probably like hunting hollows, right?"

[taiyounoyou]

She assumes that the spot he pulls out is the place he wants to sit, so she naturally reaches around him to place his meal at that seat. Whether it's someone else's or not doesn't really cross her mind. There's no one here but them, so he can sit where he likes.

"I'm glad my cooking is being set to such a high standard," she teases him, retreating again to her own seat. Maybe someone else might be able to find offense in the way that he says that, but she only hears the gratitude for providing him the meal.

As for his question about hunting, she gives him an uncertain look. "Ah, well... I guess the shooting part is kinda the same?" Except when hunting, she's pretty sure that you aim for the heart. That's a bit too awkward to mention, so instead she adds:

"I think I'd rather go fishing than hunting. There's an ocean out there. We could have all the shrimp and oysters we can eat--and who knows what kind of fish might be out there." She's actually more than a little excited to find out. It's fun imagining what future dinners might hold, even as she starts eating the food in front of her.

[aibolition]

"The highest," he assures, picking up the chopsticks. That's about as much grace as he pulls off, as the bowl of curry rice is lifted, and the rice is shoveled in past his teeth. He hears her uncertain reply but doesn't respond until the rice is gone and curry too.

He sets the bowl down and snorts. "The shooting. Right. I almost forgot we don't hunt Hollows the same at all." And, obviously, his is the superior method. As for fishing, he's never tried to net anything or reel anything but-

"I could probably manage spear-fishing," He muses. He turns his head in the ocean's direction, and says wistfully, "I wonder if there's Pollock. I'd do anything for some Karashi-Mentaiko..." He's not counting on it. That would just be too convenient. Even if he could somehow get his hands on it, he's no cook. That was always Yuzu.

And before that it was her. Hunting Hollows and dreaming of food. It's strange to think of all the things Ichigo just doesn't know about her. He's got all these little pieces of her, and for now, they're only his.

[taiyounoyou]

He mentions karashi mentaiko, and she lowers her own chopsticks for a moment. "You like spicy food?" It's a strange bit of information to be surprised about. Part of her wonders if Ichigo has similar tastes. He's picked up so much else, so... Why not this as well?

"We could check tomorrow. I think it's past season for harvesting the eggs, though..." She's not sure of the day here. It's certainly not June, like it was the last she knew. It feel more like spring with the way that the flowers are blooming and the air is nippy but bordering on pleasant. Which means it's likely March or April...

"I'll need to plan out a garden, too. Cabbage and onions and potatoes... We can grow peppers, too, if that's what you like."

[aibolition]

His head tilts thoughtful.

"I think so," He says, like he's truthfully not all sure. He looks down, turning the empty bowl in his hands. "That and chocolate were our favorites. Spicy and sweet. But I haven't gotten the chance to eat anything myself-- before this." He gestures down at himself, referring to the physical body. "I don't know if it will be different." He kind of doubts it will be. At least in the case of food, memory hasn't betrayed him much.

"But," He continues, leaning back, "I'll try anything. Even the bad stuff is interesting! There's all kinds of little flavors and textures you don't notice until you start thinking about it." Like crappy coffee, for one.

"Whatever we can get and grow, lets do it."

[taiyounoyou]

Whatever we can get and grow, let's do it. His enthusiasm makes her grin. She's never had a garden before. There wasn't enough room at the clinic for something like that. But now there's so much land that she hardly knows what to do with it all.

"I've seen other gardens around the village, so there must be tools around. We can start that tomorrow, too." Tomorrow is shaping up to be a very full day.

"And I saw a chocolate tree! It had actual chocolate bars growing on it. I don't know if we can just pick those or not, but if I get some of that--and some milk and eggs, I think I might have enough to make a cake."

[aibolition]

She thinks of his enthusiasm and he thinks on hers. He's got the smirk on, but it's not like she's seen it. The edges aren't as sharp as they usually are, and the same goes for his eyes.

He rests his head on his knuckles and watches her talk, rambling on excitedly about the plans she has. He takes in the particular up turn of her grin, familiar and entirely new, with her bursting energy as he's never seen before.

She's really here. Alive and real.

"Chocolate cake?" He laughs. "I may actually be in paradise." And he's talking to her himself, that too. It hurts something awful but he doesn't want this to stop. "With all these long term plans I could almost get the idea you have no faith in me getting us out of here," He teases, picking up the bowl of miso. He tilts it back.

[taiyounoyou]

Despite his teasing, she does balk a little, her eyes widening. "Oh--no, it's not like that. I would be more than happy to go home. Tomorrow, even! But if we're going to be here for any length of time, I don't want us going hungry. And it's like... What's that saying? We're fools whether we dance or not, so we might as well dance?" She's pretty sure that's how it goes, but she still looks a little embarrassed at his teasing.

"I don't really know if we'll go home tomorrow, or the next day, or the day after that. But I can make plans like this because I know that we'll find a way. I can enjoy these things because I know it won't be forever." She can keep smiling because she trusts that he'll find a way for them to get home.

[aibolition]

In his eagerness for that miso (he can never seem to stop once he starts) he almost misses the widening of her eyes. He licks the remains of his lips and wipes at his mouth with his hand as he frowns and listens.

He's not sure if that's how the saying goes. It's one he can get behind, but he waits until she's finished.

It's strange to actually have someone's faith in him. Especially so much of it. Even ignoring how, at the moment, he's got no ideas and no plan, it's that she trusts him. He will get them home.

But what he comments on isn't that. "I've never considered it that way." When he first woke in the inner world it was all about the goal. "Enjoying things while one can, sure, but to do so because of its impermanence..." Maybe he can adopt that. Maybe he can make it work out for him too.

He can't be apart from Ichigo forever. But while he is, he can enjoy it. He doesn't have to be as conflicted as he is. Was. He looks back up at her with a wide grin. "In that case, I guess that means we're going to have a busy day tomorrow. Fishing, gathering, anything else we want to throw in there?"

[taiyounoyou]

She grins back at him, and there's relief in her that he seems to understand what she means. That she doesn't make plans because she doubts him, but rather it's because she believes in him that she can be happy with this place for now.

He asks what else she wants to do, and the answer is quick to her lips: "I want to build an archery target. You know, just in case that wish I made comes true." The wish that she might have neglected to tell him about, like she intended to.

[aibolition]

He laughs. She really doesn't stop does she? He's not complaining.

But his brows are rising.

"You made a wish?" He says. "For what? A bow?" A pause. "Your bow?"

He still doubts as to whether these so called wishes will work. But he guesses now they're going to actually find out.

[taiyounoyou]

He gets it in one, and she's a little surprised--though she really shouldn't be. It was pretty obvious, given what she had just talked about building.

"Not my bow, just a regular longbow. He asked that I keep it simple." Though now she's wondering... Can she really get her bow? Could she ask for her Quincy powers back? "...Maybe if that turns up, I'll try asking for something more. I don't think there's a limit."

[aibolition]

His thoughts run much the same as hers. If she could get his powers back, then so could he.

"How fast do you think it works?" He asks, desperate hope putting a fever in his words. The ghost-feeling of cold water is still stuck to his skin. "Did he tell you that?"

Maybe not. If he wants her testing maybe he doesn't know either. But all the same.

"If we can both get our power back, we could probably have an even easier time getting out of here," He points out. Then grins, wild. "I'd have to spare with you at least once before that though."