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[kurosakiboy]

Life here at the bar is very different from Ichigo's normal life back home. There's no crazy family to deal with, no school to bore him and no Hollows to kill. His sword gathers dust in his room and half the time he forgets he's a spirit. His usual pastimes (training, killing Hollows and studying) have all been taken from him and replaced with a

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[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Well, there's one face that's at least spoken to him a couple of times, though not in a while. Ellen's been kind of busy in her world. Tonight, though, that's another story, so as she goes to sit down herself-

"Ichigo?" she says after some thought, trying to put a name to that hair. "Is that you?"

[kurosakiboy]

It's been some time since they last spoke, but Ichigo still recognizes her when he looks up at the sound of his name.

"Ellen?" The tone is uncertain. He's never good with names. Or faces. "Ellen, right? How've you been? Haven't seen you in a while."

He nudges the chair beside him to allow her to sit. Boredom has made him unusually eager for company.

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

Ellen nods. "That's me," she says, and moves to sit down. "I'm really sorry- I've had a lot of stuff going on at home, and I've been in and out a lot. How have you been?"

[kurosakiboy]

He waves a hand at her explanation and takes a bite from his sandwich before speaking. "Don't worry about it. People come and go all the time around here, sometimes without even knowing how much time has passed. It's normal."

Some people are gone months, others years, without knowing if a day or a week has passed. Others simply never return. It's something Ichigo has tried to become accustomed to here.

"I've been alright, I guess. Pretty much the opposite of your situation: nothing going on and stuck out of my own world. I can see the door, but every time I try to open it it's completely impossible. I see other people leaving and coming in all the time, so I know it's me that's the problem, not the door."