sirenspull_logs | It's what I want that's easy

Entry tags:

It's what I want that's easy

Who: Hinamori Momo (

ibreakrules), and Hitsugaya Toushirou (

icy_heavens)
When: Saturday, March 31st, Morning
Where: 22 Keene Lane, Sector 4, at a garage sale
Summary: Hinamori goes thrift-hunting and meets a bishop.
Warnings: None!

The garage sale was much bigger than Hinamori had anticipated. Furniture, clothing, toys, electronics and what seemed like an endless amount of bizarre unidentifiable knick-knacks were scattered in an incredibly haphazard fashion across a sprawling yard. Hinamori hardly knew where to start. She could teach these people a thing or two about planning.

Some of the other shoppers were like her, looking for a few things in particular but in no hurry to find them. Others seemed desperately competitive, hunting for bargains like their lives depended on them. Hinamori tried to avoid these ones, as they seemed likely to glare or start a fight if she encroached too closely on their space.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a small dresser that looked like exactly what she was looking for. Hinamori started towards it, but before she could get there, she felt herself being shoved aside. "A-ah!" she cried, stumbling and starting to fall. She threw her hands out wildly for something, anything to grab onto. (Given the precarious piling of some of the items near her, this could end quite badly.)

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"Maybe we can do it together?" It was always more fun to see things with friends. "I'm Hinamori, by the way."

"Frau."

He gave her a simple nod in greeting instead of the more typical nice to meet you.

"Where have you been to so far?"

"Frau..." She committed the name to memory. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I've hardly been anywhere. I only arrived a couple of weeks ago. I've been to some of the business sectors job-hunting, and a cafe over by the baseball field—the one where Newcomers arrive—and an ice cream shop in Sector 3—did you know they have avocado-flavored ice cream?—and a few parks over in Sector 5, near where I live now. But a city like this probably has lots of museums, and probably some really impressive local history sites, and restaurants to try—there's probably all sorts of exotic recipes I've never even heard of here—and I've heard there are vampires, and werewolves, and witches, and aliens here, although it would probably be terribly rude to just gawk, but... there's so much here to see!"

This is a girl who can chatter when she wants to.

Frau was a little taken aback by the sudden stream of commentary, but he just let it go and listened. Or at least halfway listened.

"Probably... the place itself is pretty different. I know of a lot of restaurants and cafes, and I know there are definitely people who fit different categories."

He'd spent most of his early time visiting every cafe and diner at least once. First things first. He had to find good food.

Hinamori had invited him along if he were up at the time, claiming this yard sale to be a great place to pick up some furniture she needed for a good price. Of course, he'd been asleep earlier this morning, so it seemed that she'd gone ahead without him. Which was fine.

But now that he was awake, he figured that he ought to go help her out. She was getting furniture. She'd probably klutz it up and break things without help.

Hitsugaya's sense of direction still wasn't what it should have been, but being able to sense reiatsu made up for a lot -- and Hinamori's was easily the most familiar to him, when she didn't take measures to cover it up.

He was so focused on her reiatsu, however, that he failed to noticed the presence of . . . one of those people whose names he'd forgotten. So he wound up popping out of virtually nowhere behind Hinamori like he always did.

"Find anything yet?"

Proper greeting? What does he need that for?

Hinamori literally jumped. It was a standard panic reaction—get as far away from the thing behind you as possible. However, it tumbled her straight forward... into Frau. Which was good, because if he hadn't been there, she might have ended up on the concrete. Or worse... buried underneath one of those piles of unidentifiable things.

"Ah, Frau, I'm sorry," she apologized, trying to extricate herself from him. "H-Histugaya-kun! How many times do I have to ask you not to do that?" This, too, was a standard reaction. Hinamori didn't really expect him to stop. She might have thought there was something wrong with him if he did. But it was a old script with them; him, hovering silently nearby while she played with friends until he got close enough to scare the pants off of her, and her scolding him angrily for his antisocial behavior despite being glad to see him.

When Hinamori had tumbled into him Frau had wrapped an arm around her easily to keep her from landing flat on her face. He hadn't been remotely surprised by Hitsugaya's sudden appearance. Or, he was surprised, but not to the point of fear. He was more surprised that they knew each other.

"Frostbitty doesn't listen to anyone."

Nevermind that Hitsugaya took a critical look at where Frau's hand caught her. The idiot was a lech; he remembered that much. But it was in an innocent place, so he left it alone.

And just frowned up at him like always. "Neither do you, considering I constantly have to tell you to quit calling me that."

But then his look turned to Hinamori and his expression calmed a little, involuntarily. "After all these years, I'd think you'd be less jumpy about this."

Of course, it wouldn't be as fun if she stopped leaping up in surprise and scolding him. Though had he sensed anyone else around, he wouldn't have done this; it wasn't one of his most mature habits.

Hinamori looked at Frau, and then back at Hitsugaya, and then back of Frau. She found herself hesitating because they seemed to be at odds with one another, and yet, at present, both of them fell into her "friends" category. (Sure, Frau was a newly-made one, but until she had reason to believe otherwise, he was there.) She didn't know which one to defend.

She decided to go for a safe response. "Do you two... know each other?"

"I don't pretend to think that I do listen to people. Why would I?"

And he didn't. Frau did his own thing all the time. It was why he ended up in so much trouble with the people at the church. As for Hitsugaya being concerned about showing he was mature, he shouldn't have worried. Frau was the last person to care about something like that. In fact, he still acted very much like a kid himself most of the time. It didn't bother him in the least either. Other people could think what they wanted.

He released Hinamori when he was sure she was stable enough on her own two feet and answered her question.

"Yeah."

He just shrugged at the question after Frau answered it. The man was annoying as hell, but Hitsugaya didn't hate him or anything. Why put Hinamori on edge more than he had to?

"It's fine." But they were getting off subject. He wasn't deliberately trying to avoid conversation, but hey. He'd showed up for a reason -- even if part of that reason was just to spend more time with Hinamori. "As I was saying: find anything yet? If so, I might as well be the one to bring it back for you; hell knows you'd probably be clumsy with it and break something on your own."

There was no anger or irritation in his tone; particularly percptive people would recognize that he was teasing. His overall posture was more relaxed than what Frau would have become accustomed to seeing. Hitsugaya was just unconsciously more at ease in mundane situations when Hinamori was around.

She started to nod happily, then paused. Actually, no. The dresser had disappeared, hadn't it? And then Hitsugaya had to go and point out her clumsiness- in front of a new friend, no less. "I would not! I brought a cart to carry things on and rope and everything! I came prepared!" Nevermind that she had "come prepared" intending to compensate for any clumsiness on her part.

Frau wasn't overly perceptive, but he was good enough to pick up on the fact that there was something between Hitsugaya and Hinamori. They were, at least, good friends. In fact, they sort of reminded Frau of Teito and Hakuren. It was kind of fun to watch actually. This was just too perfect to let go by.

"You'd probably get flattened by it."

Whether he was talking about Hinamori or Hitsugaya wasn't clear, but it could have gone for either one of them.

He just let her shout at him. Why interrupt?

"Eh. You'd have still found a way to be a klutz about it. You're creative that way."

In a battle, Hinamori could keep her feet under her just fine. But for some reason, that skill didn't seem to transfer into everyday life. Sometimes, he was amazed she could climb stairs.

That comment about being flattened? His answer would be just as ambiguous. "Tch. As if I'd let it."

It was only intense, intense focus and concentration that allowed Hinamori to keep proper form in battle. Although even with that, she still preferred keeping her distance in a fight. Hand-to-hand combat, with or without a sword, was not her forte. And just as in this case, she could always compensate for any lack of grace on her part with enough planning.

Hinamori's clumsiness came from her general lack of self-awareness. She always put others first, before even the urgings and sensations of her own body. The world around her was far more important than the management of her limbs. She would have forgotten them entirely at times, had they not been attached.

"That's not very nice, Frau," she said sternly. "No one's getting flattened by anything."

"And for your information"—speaking now to Hitsugaya—"no, I haven't found anything yet. There was a cute dresser over there, but it's gone now. And no one around here seems to know what a kotatsu is, or even have a properly sized table." Although the garage sale owners' sense of taste was impressively eclectic, they were apparently not huge fans of traditional Japanese culture.

"Who said I was trying to be nice?"

Frau? Nice? Really? That just wasn't his style. He was nice to women all the time, but in front of Hitsugaya he wasn't going to be showing too much of that kindness. Plus, Hinamori wasn't the type of girl he would flirt with. Contrary to popular belief, Frau didn't just go after anyone with boobs, though it was a near thing.

It wasn't as if Hinamori had a figure anyway, which Hitsugaya was not above pointing out to her when he was feeling bratty. But he was the only one allowed to nag at her about that.

More frowning at Frau. "Well if you're not going to be nice to her, you can shut up."

Now. Moving on to the person he could stand. "You'll have to look into that elsewhere, then. I wouldn't know where specifically, seeing as I've no use for one." He also couldn't remember the name of any stores. But why bring that up?

His eyes critically scanned the nearby items, and he couldn't help but stop and furrow his brow in an utterly puzzled fashion at something that just didn't look like anything recognizable. He couldn't help the question: "What the hell is that even supposed to be?"

Egads. Conflict. Do not want. "P-please stop it. Both of you. You're right, we should just go somewhere else and do something nice. It's finally a nice day. We should enjoy it." She didn't know if either one of them would pay any attention to her, but she had to at least try to help everyone get along.

"Aww, so cute. You're trying to be all protective."

It really was rather adorable. Frau reached out and ruffled Hitsugaya's hair simply because he could and it would be hysterical. Plus, he was sure to get a pretty good reaction from it.

What the hell? Why did Hinamori always do this when he stuck up for her? It had been this way forever. He wasn't the one who should be told to stop.

And his case was given more validity when Frau called his defense cute and ruffled his hair. Because like hell that wasn't to deliberately piss him off. Idiot. She'd told them to stop.

He smacked the hand down, much harder than he would have Hinamori's. "Knock it off."

A huffy sigh escaped him before he could stop it. Well. If Frau were going to act like a jackass, he certainly wasn't going to leave him alone with Hinamori. "Fine."

Hinamori wasn't sure whether to be exasperated or amused at the hair ruffle. A little of both, she supposed. She had expected Histugaya's reaction to it, though, and she suspected Frau had as well. It was such a silly gesture anyway. Why did tall people always feel the need to put their hands on the heads of shorter people? Her captain, too, although she didn't mind it from him—and he did it to comfort, not to patronize.

"It's almost noon. Let's find someplace to eat. You said you knew a lot of good restaurants, right, Frau? And you can tell me more about yourself on the way there. What do you do? And what did you do back home? Is your home world very different from here?" Distract. This was a good plan. After all, it always worked against her.

Frau had been expecting the smack, and it only made him laugh when it came. Even before he'd arrived here he was used to that type of reaction. It felt like slipping into a well known role. A role he didn't mind at all.

"Sure. I've been to most of them in the middle sectors once. There are a few good ones nearby."

He wouldn't mind taking them either. As for her attempt at distracting him, he'd willingly answer some questions. However, there was a limit, and once he hit that she wouldn't get a word out of him on the matter. Frau had quite a few secrets.

"I work as a bouncer here. At home I'm a bishop. Gotta say, I haven't found much here that's the same as in my world."

The smack was an involuntary reaction. Hinamori had patted his head a lot when they were children, and the motion was a reflex -- though the worst she ever got was a light swat. More often, he just shoved away the hand. No such leniency was granted to anyone else. Besides, she didn't do that anymore.

Having Frau with them wasn't exactly Hitsugaya's idea of a good time, but he could deal with it. It wasn't like he had a lot of choice in the matter. "Whatever. Let's just go, then."

Hinamori led them over to where she had left her cart. She started pulling it along with both hands behind her, skipping just a little as she went. "A bishop? Like, a church bishop? How did you get into that?" Because how does one even become a bishop. (The same question could probably be asked of being a shinigami, of course.)

Frau nudged Hitsugaya lightly as they started off and dropped his voice to a low whisper so Hinamori wouldn't hear.

"She's like your exact opposite, yet you're so at ease around here. It's cute."

Yup, Frau had just called him cute. He turned away from Hitsugaya before he could get a reply and answered Hinamori's question.

"Yeah. I spent most of my life at the church. I'm a bishop thanks to a stupid old fart that forced me into it."

Despite what it sounded like, that stupid old fart had meant a lot to Frau.

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And heeeere's the BFF. No he's not stalking her!!

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