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Post by Beriadan on Apr 26, 2023 21:13:26 GMT
The storm was settling around them, like wet leaves and fallen petals. Yuji sighed lightly, straightening up and shutting her eyes for a moment. Who hadn't suffered in the wake of the traitors? Her Captain, Komamura, certainly had. Other divisions had casualties. Yet the truth was all clouds came with a silver lining. Seretei had been fractured for too long. Now, divisions were reaching out. Shinigami from all over were coming together in the face of adversity. Yuji opened her eyes, staring out of the headquarters and go the blue sky beyond.
The Captain had granted her the afternoon to have the building to herself. Yuji had invited third seats from all other divisions to attend a tea ceremony, hosted by herself, in an attempt to bring them all closer. She watched white cherry blossoms float lazily on a spring breeze, and breathed out again. Why was she nervous? It was just tea... with people she hadn't yet met.
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Post by notdomino on May 1, 2023 2:39:31 GMT
Suo walked in with a the swagger of a thousand suns, or maybe she was just a lightweight. Honestly, she was happy she could pregame before coming. The sake eased her stress, hmmmmmmmm honestly Kyoraku was a bad influence on her. Between her brief time at squad 1 and now, she was WAY happier. "WEEEEEEEEEEE. Yuji! Long time no see." She'd enter with a hearty hello. For a tea ceremony she was well equipped to pair a bottle of sake of her own,, so repay Taka for his liquid kindness earlier. With a jolly stride, she go to give the 3rd seat a hug.... They weren't that close, but anyone who'd been around Suo drunk before would know they'd be in for some entertainment!
"Taka, don't be a stranger! Say hi."
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Post by MisterMau on May 1, 2023 15:16:35 GMT
Taka was just chuckling as he walked along with his much more lightweight friend, taking a few drinks along the way only really got him feeling warm and fuzzy around the brain. He reached up and caught one of the falling petals in his hand, he adored this time of year. It was a shame he didn't have any paint on him or anything, this would make a great scene to capture. Ah well, can't always get em.
Suo's grand entrance was about what he expected, it was great to see her smiling like that. In contrast, he gave a wave to Yuji "Hi, thanks for the invite. I don't know that we've met formally. Takahiro, but everyone calls me Taka" he took another swig from the bottle in his hand, and lightly tucked the cherry blossom petal behind Suo's ear, if only to see how long it'd take her to notice.
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Post by Beriadan on Jun 6, 2023 18:57:25 GMT
Yuji was about to bow as some of the others arrived, but felt herself stiffen at a sudden, swift hug attack. Not one for physical contact, Yuji simply existed while it happened, then felt relief as it passed. Was that sake on the third seat's breath? She wrinkled her nose. Not the kind of tea party she had been thinking of!
"Third seat Hijikata Suo, third seat Rikimaru Takahiro... thank you for joining."
Yuji made a point of pouring out three cups of green tea, each one steaming, smelling aromatic and mellow. She passed one to the others, eyeing the sake bottle with a slight frown.
"I admit, I don't drink hard alcohol before midday... if I had known, I would have brought some in. Imada Yuji," she said to Takahiro, another bow sweeping her pale hair across her pale face, "nice to make your acquaintance. It's not often we third seats are able to meet one another."
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Post by notdomino on Jun 8, 2023 2:29:50 GMT
Suo pulled back from the hug after realizing there would be no arms coming around to hug her back. It was okay though, she practically inhaled Yuji into the embrace without warning or any heads up. Maybe it was to be expected. Regardless she couldn't help but chuckle at Yuji's informal greeting. That's right! There were people like her in the soul society. If anything, the more "loose" bracket of soul reapers was on the small percentile of everyone in the ranks. Suo would take her spot in a violent thud, the force knocking the petal from behind her ear. "Huh?" The 3rd seat would pick it up, and eye it. Now where'd that come from? Beyond that, it took no time at all for Suo to go ahead and splash a bit of sake into the warm tea. Today was a drinking day for her... Meaning this was a spiked tea party.
"Yayaaaaaay~ Chee... ers..." She forcibly stopped herself from guzzling the hot liquid and scorching her tongue.
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Post by MisterMau on Jun 10, 2023 13:36:48 GMT
There was something he couldn't help but chuckle at when it came to Suo's antics around others. Taka returned the bow to their host before he took his seat beside Suo, noting her confused look at the petal before taking his own tea and sipping it lightly "mmm, this is great. Thank you. Cheers!" it was after a few sips that he added his own touch of sake to the drink, unable to help himself.
"You're right though, I don't really see many other third seats besides this one" nodding his head to the much more buzzed member of the trio (Taka himself was feeling it though, his cheeks warmed from the sake they had been drinking on the walk over) "we've actually known each other since before the academy. It's nice having someone familiar around, I never feel alone" giving a big grin to Yuji "we were actually training before we got here, the sake is kinda just....well we both enjoy it after some hard work. Who knows, maybe a bit of sake to keep everyone from being too tense is what we need. A lotta tense feelings between squads lately, y'know?"
Taka sipped his now spiked tea with a smile, setting the sake bottle down in the middle of the group "oh hey, that's a pretty petal, Suo" reaching over and gently stealing it back, putting it behind his own ear, shooting her a wink.
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Post by Beriadan on Jun 10, 2023 17:14:40 GMT
Yuji watched as the two added sake to the tea. She knew it was fine. Sure, she had spent a fair few hours picking the right leaves fro her family estate. Sure, she had carefully warmed it to the right temperature, making sure the pot was warmed and the cups weren't too cold. Sure, she had spent the whole afternoon preparing this tea party with meticulous and intense precision. Yet it didn't matter. Yuji was just the host. The guests were meant to lead the way.
Slowly she took the bottle of sake off of Taka. Yuji sniffed, her expressionless face impassive. She then poured a modest slug into her cup. Why not? She took a seat opposite the other two, sipping the spiked tea. There was a small, imperceptible wince.
"It's... an improvement."
Yuji took another sip, then focused her piercing gaze on Taka. Friends from the academy? She could count her friends on the tip of her zanpaku-to. Yuji's often expressionless face remained so, but there was, perhaps, a twinkle of jealousy in her eyes.
"That... must be nice. I advanced through the Academy too fast to get to know anyone else."
She looked down at the mug. Yuji felt a spark of warmth in her stomach. The sake didn't taste as good as her normal tea, but it was doing something to her. Yuji had never properly drank before. She felt like her tongue was loosening.
"My family is a minor noble house... so there was a lot of pressure for me to succeed. I never had a chance to let up, until really after the trait-"
She stopped, looking up at Taka with a frown.
"My apologies. I know... it's not an easy subject. You must be feeling raw. I know Captain Komamura is."
Yuji clapped a hand to her mouth. Only a few sips and she was already singing like a canary! Taka and Suo could note that her porcelain skin was flushed a slight touch of pink.
"Apologies! I shouldn't speak on such matters. Please, forget I spoke. Um... this sake is strong, no?"
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Post by notdomino on Jun 16, 2023 5:24:30 GMT
Suo flinched when Taka took the petal from her. "You're picking on meeeee. Stop it. You're gonna scare Yuji away. " She squinted at him, before pivoting to address her own squad. If talking about school was a sore spot for her, Suo would go ahead and skip over it. "Well, life with Captain Kyoraku isn't so hard. All the hard stuff goes to Nanao. " Sure there were tremors with what happened, but nothing that she really could speak up on. "In which case, no the sake it LIGHT. I think you should drink some MORE."
She'd pass a devious smile to Taka. Lightweights were always interesting drunks, but this was more of an indicator that she didn't know she was one herself. "It's a courageous substance. You never know what may come from it." A hearty gulp would follow. She'd refill her cup, but modulate the ratio. In this one, she'd only really pour enough tea to change the color of the sake. That should do the trick. She'd swap this cup with Yuji's cup. "Suo knows best!" ...she didn't.
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