Are You Going to Scarbourough Fair?

[snowwhitesoul]

Who: Kuchiki Rukia (snowwhitesoul) and YOU
What: Rukia is exploring the city and sniffing for clues
Where: Promenade's main street
When: Early afternoon of January 13th.
Warnings: Beware the midget.

Comments

Placeholder for Saturday afternoon

[desablesdouble]

After a scouting of the house she had been allocated - although house scarcely covered the building that was unlike anything she'd seen before - Maria had been far happier to get out and explore. Not that she wasn't used to sharing with others and indeed, any barracks or ships had been filthy and disgusting, illnesses spreading like wildfire with the stench of unwashed bodies lingering in the air but she trusted not a single soul here as she still searched for Robert or another of her company. There was a constantly growing knot of worry in her gut for every day that passed without a route out of the city of Promenade

You rang?

[showmeshinies]

Confident enough in the schedule of the palace guards to leave that portion of his scouting alone for at least a little while, Jarlaxle hit the streets for something to eat and another run-through of the city. He still had not found his place of solace, and he was sure he was over-looking it. A street vendor offered him something Jarlaxle had not tried before, and he nibbled on the "cheeseburger" as he wandered

Why yes I did~

[snowwhitesoul]

Unscrewing the bottle of tea takes a bit of coordination with one hand occupied, or at least she makes it seem that way when she spies the dark skinned man move towards her. Well, she saw his hat first in all honesty, but that was neither here nor there. Stopping to brace the bottle in the crook of her elbow, she waits for him to approach.

"Good afternoon," hnnngh, there! The lid twists off and Rukia finally looks up at the drow, tacking on a bow of her head to the end of her greeting. Her voice is pitched higher than what he's heard from her, a smile that flirts with ridiculous stretching her cheeks. Happy, bubbly, keeping the schoolgirl act in place, she gives Jarlaxle another look. "And how are you today, sir?"

:D

[showmeshinies]

"Quite well, thank you," he replied, looking curiously at the oddly shaped flask in her hand. What an interesting looking thing. Jarlaxle shook his head and then gave her a grin. The act she put on out here was convincingly different from what he had seen during their previous meeting, and he was inwardly amused by it. He had a feeling even Gromph might approve a little of his choice in agent.

"How are you, Miss Kuchiki? Are you settling back in alright?" The question was not entirely innocent, but nobody watching them would have been able to guess at his real intentions.

=D

[snowwhitesoul]

Finally, someone who appreciates her acting skills!

"I'm doing fine, thank your for asking, Jarlaxle-san!" Her tone was so sweet it could've made bees diabetic. She giggles just a bit and gestures behind her towards the cluster of people streaming in and out of an off-branching road that lead to a long cul de sac of merchant stalls and businesses. "I was out exploring the city today, some kind men gave me this food for free."

To illustrate, she held up the bun, the crunchy outside crust and the filling exposed from a few bites. Rukia would admit to herself the food here seemed to be decent. Suddenly, her face flickers from merely smiling to surprise. "Oh, did you know that there's going to be a festival soon, Jarlaxle-san?"

[rewritethesky]

She was getting tired. While there was nothing wrong with the room she stayed in, Naminé had grown accustomed to the loneliness and solitude after being normally ignored by DiZ unless needed, it didn't feel right to continuously be cooped up in there forever. Not that she knew that there were many places to this endless plane of existence, the beach and the garden area were more than enough for her

[snowwhitesoul]

"Oof!"

Well, that makes two of them who really weren't paying too much attention. So much for grace and shinigami reflexes. Rukia fumbles with her bottle as she's knocked sideways by someone who was speaking with a merchant. She hadn't anticipated the person backing up so suddenly and nearly lost her rink for her lack of attention. Condensation makes the glass slippery as she tries to snatch it out of the air, it slips from her fingers again before she successfully rescues it from being dashed against the sidewalk. Ta da!

Looking over her shoulder, the little shinigami notices one of the fruits that the merchant pushed on Namine roll against her feet. Picking it up, she extended it towards the girl, looking a bit sheepish.

"My apologies, are you alrigt?"

[rewritethesky]

Unfortunately, quick reflexes aren't always applicable to every Nobody. Although it wasn't much, knocking into Rukia was more than enough force to cause the blond girl to stumble on her own feet, trying to regain her balance, and fall backwards in a manner that was not at all graceful.

It seemed that the reaction and collision of girls was enough to ward off the merchant for now, returning back to his stand while Naminé was in a small heap on the ground, nearly a half-dozen oranges scattered around her. Rubbing her face for a moment, awkwardly because she was not yet mindful of the mask, to glanced up and Rukia and nodded, more than sheepish enough for running into her like that.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine," leaning on one hand, she propped herself up and found her balance again enough to squat and gather up the fruit around her. "Y-you don't need to apologize. I-I was the one that ran into you." Looking up, she gave a bashful and nervous smile and tenderly took the one from Rukia.

Later. After Rukia gets back |Db

[savior_n_black]

Well, it had only taken a minute, and a half to decode, and read Rukia's note, but Ichigo was still a little put out that she was insisting on not listening. Everything about this place was suspect, and they needed to stick together! Jeez, she made it a real pain to try, and protect his friends.
He knew she could protect herself back in Karakura, but this 'Promenade' place is a far cry from the normal world. He couldn't put his finger on it, exactly, but whatever it was, it made him feel edgy. Like something in the air was just...off.

Ichigo is terrible at sensing reiatsu. He always has been, but sitting on the roof of building 9, Ichigo could close his eyes, and if he focused really hard, he could get a sense of where Rukia was right now.
Well, she'd be back soon, right? Until then, he would stay up here, with waraji-clad feet dangling over the edge of the roof, and considering his daytime mask. Which, notably, he held in his hands, rather than worn on his face.

o/

[snowwhitesoul]

By the time she's back to House Nine, the pasty is gone and she's disposed of the tea glass. However, dangling from her fingers is the majority of the chocolate candies (dark chocolate orbs with little white chocolate crowns on top and filled with a hazelnut and chocolate filling) in their bulging cloth bag and tied with a gold ribbon. She'd nibbled on a few and found them delicious, but a bit too rich to eat for a simple lunch. Knowing Ichigo would be irked with her taking off alone, she figured they could be an impressive attempts at amelioration.

Coming around the corner that separated their building from the road that connected it to the Main Road, she felt first then saw him on the top of the building. A quick lift of reishi and a bounce off the upper branches of a nearby tree, Rukia landed on the ledge beside him, waving the chocolate in the line of sight between his eyes and the mask.

"You should be wearing that."

[savior_n_black]

The bag gets taken, and looked over critically. Then opened, and one of the chocolates sniffed experimentally...and promptly popped into his mouth.
Rukia just gets a glare, and Ichigo pointedly slipping the half-mask back into his kosode.

"I'm not wearing the stupid thing. It's bad enough that we can't talk when it gets dark."

Giving a mildly indignant huff, he looks back out across the rooftops of Promenade, and pulls out another of the candies to munch in annoyed silence.

[snowwhitesoul]

Dropping down to sit beside him, now that she's made her peace offering, Rukia looks out over the rooftops that spread out around them. An endless city, the rooftops capped in the golden orange of the afternoon light, the long shadows stretching out in the crevices between. Even now, the flow of people moving along the main thoroughfare was steady and thick, flickers of prismatic light glitter off gems or shards of light on masks. She huffs and looks at him from the corner of her mask.

"Ichigo, we don't know what were up against here yet. These people...their power is tremendous. Until we know more, laying low is our best option. I hate these masks, too, but... for now, they allow us to hide in plain sight, too."