Duty First! But... It's Also Nice to Relax

"Okay!" The red head looked around for a seat she liked, ignoring any looks given her way. Aoi needed the perfect spot... A bit away from the humans in there, that way she didn't have to watch herself so much, was a nice little booth. This human was thinking of everything, it was time she started helping.

He really was too nice... Aoi set her box down and watched Rin as he went up to order. It was a shame he wasn't a shinigami, if she got too close she'd be setting herself up for pain when he died. It was unlikely even a shinigami could find one newly dead human and if he ended up in the worst parts of the Rukongai he could die again before she could meet him again. It was kind of depressing to think of, which is what happened when she stopped reacting and started thinking. Aoi preferred the former greatly... It made all this much easier. She set her head in her hands as she leaned forward and watched Rin carefully and sort of meloncholy for a bit.

Rin waited off to the side while they prepared their order, he'd been sure to remember to ask to put some of the most common or popular toppings off to the side. There was plenty to try when it came down to pizza, and while Aoi wouldn't get to try everything she'd still get a decent bit.

While he waited, Rin pulled out his phone, noticing a new text from Ruka.

"Mm?"

'Rin-Rin~ Hope you're being a good boy for cute little Aoi-chan! ;) Fufu~'

Instead of responding, Rin quickly pocketed his phone with a disgruntled look before he heard the cashier call to him to get the pizza.

"Here we go." Rin said once he'd reached the table, setting down the pizza in the middle before seating himself across from Aoi. "I asked them to put most of the toppings on the side so you could experiment. Something wrong?" He asked afterwords, noticing her mood seemed to be a little less enthusiastic looking than before.

It smelled soooo good in here. Aoi's mouth watered and she snuck another lolipop cupcake in while she watched Rin. Her thoughts were all jumbled and messed up in her head. Her selfloathing, her hate, her anger, it was all bursting through those dams she kept up and hidden in the walls of her mind. Memories that she didn't think of, but knew were there edged in the corners of her mind. Her eyes glazed over as she started cleaning house in her head a bit more.

Rin setting the pizza at the table with all the extra items and him sitting down made her startle. She looked up lost for a minute and blurted out something she shouldn't have said, but wanting to be truthful. She looked down and the curly red locks covered her face. "I'm not a good person, I've killed a lot."

"So thank you for your kindness, I'm a but undeserving of it."

"Hm." Her sudden exclamation surprised him, one minute she'd been as happy as ever and now she was just full of self hatred, claiming she didn't deserve his kindness.

With a sigh, Rin rested his chin on one of his hands. "I..." How could he say this? "I may not carry the burden of having killed someone who was alive or something but...I'm not exactly free of a bit of self loathing either..." He started. "Souls, I've seen and even let some die to save my own skin. They were human once, they were just wandering, minding their own business while waiting to pass on to something that was probably better for them...When those hollows attack, and they're nearby, I want to save them but in the end I don't always have enough strength."

"You may have taken lives, whether it have been on purpose or not, but deep down...you're still a good person. I can see that. You feel remorse, a truly terrible person wouldn't." He said, moving his free hand to her head, floofing her hair like she had his. "So as difficult as it may be, don't hate yourself over it too much. You're job now is to help people, so work hard, get stronger and protect as many people as you can. Balance out the good and the bad."

He offered what he hoped was a reassuring smile, he wasn't the best at comforting people, as most of what he remembered of his life people had always comforted him, whether he needed it or not. It was mostly pity he was shown, pity he'd lost the memories of a good portion of his life, and he often felt bad for it, but he never let anyone know that, kept his emotions to himself so he wouldn't give anyone else anything to worry about. Sometimes he felt like all he did was burden people, so in return he tried to make them happy, to relieve some of that burden he'd weighed them down with.

"You really should be more careful, you aren't trained to fight them... You were so happy to be alive yesterday, don't throw it away for those souls too." Aoi sent a scowl in Rin's direction as she looked up. The touch was surprising, he hadn't done much so far, so she leaned against his hand still with her grumpy expression on. "Its what my plan is, actually. I'll give back all I can, help as many of the souls as I can and heal the wounds a bit. If you want to practice, I can help you become stronger too. I WAS the best practical combat survival teacher they had in many a year."


"You should smile more, its nice." Pulling a hair tie out of her pocket, Aoi then used both hands to bring her hair up into a short ponytail. Food would get in it and she didn't want to have to wash it. She had wanted to comment before on his words about the souls, but... didn't. It wasn't nice to see what the afterlife really looked like. She should protect that sort of ignorance... She took two pieces of pizza off, figuring out how it worked by observing the others around them. "Don't you hate yourself either Rin-Rin. If I am not allowed to, you shouldn't be. You should follow the example set forth for you by me~"

Rin gave a smile, "Perhaps I should get lessons from you then."

Quote :

"Don't you hate yourself either Rin-Rin. If I am not allowed to, you shouldn't be. You should follow the example set forth for you by me~"

She had a point, but he chose not to reply as Aoi tied her hair and readied herself to try the pizza. After she took her chosen slices, he took one of his own and took a small bite. It'd been awhile since he'd had pizza, a few weeks probably, since Ruka handled cooking and whenever it was lunch time he tended to pick other places if he didn't already have a lunch of his own.

Aoi had started stacking the toppings on her pizza, trying out new things with every bite. Maybe she'd teach him proper knots and how to get out of it, followed up by avoidance techniques and then quick kills 101. Aoi started putting lesson plans together as she devoured the pizza. It was so very good, the cheese melty and delicious... The crust! Aaaah, she was in heaven.

If she could, she would be sparkling with her love of this food, but instead she just smiled and ate quite a bit. Aoi devoured way more pizza and toppings that looked humanly possible, not able to speak from the way she inhaled the pizza. Food was one of her favorite things... Now full, she leaned back against the booth and patted her stomach. "Aaah so yummy."

Rin watched in slight amusement as Aoi ate, from the looks of things she was enjoying herself and the food. Not particularly very hungry, Rin stuck to his slice and finished it off by the time Aoi seemed to be done herself.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it." Rin replied while wiping his hands free of grease with a napkin. "Was the experience what you'd hoped it be?"

"Yes~ This is so wonderful, all these different foods. I never thought I'd get to try all of them..." Aoi stuck her tongue out and bopped her head. "I really should be a better about this whole... working here. This world isn't supposed to be all fun and games for us... But I really want to enjoy it!"

Aoi slide out of the booth and stood up, pulling her arms up from her body in a catlike stretch. "Mm, this shall be the best dessert. If I am still here later we should get more food! Err, thats all right right? I am so sorry I forgot about money! I'll have to teach you more to make up for this... If we go to the hardware store I can help! Well...anywhere that sells rope or rope like things..."

"Well you should enjoy your work, it makes things easier." Saying that, Rin stood, picking up the remaining empty box and napkins before throwing them away in a nearby trashcan. "It shouldn't be a problem, it's fine by me if you want to eat more next time you're around."

Rin stopped short at the mention of ropes, "Y-you still...plan on that?" He asked. Again the thought crossed his mind that she'd never let him get past anything that could be related to whip-kinks.

"It is a serious job, full of honor and responsibility. I don't suppose those souls I am supposed to be saving appreciate me taking a break buuuut... Thank you Rin-Rin, you are showing me how to have fun here~" Aoi put her hands behind her back and followed Rin out, grinning up a storm.

"Yes? I want to teach you safely. Knots are good to know, and you can practice on me. I'm rather flexible and can get out of most of them without issues." Demonstrating her flexibility a bit, Aoi bent over in half and fell forward into a perfect roll. "I can show you more later. It's best shown in sticky situations, like being tied up in a bed." She winked.

She really...didn't know why he was so hesitant, either that or she might get a kick out of embarrassing him. He was tempted to explain to her why he kept questioning the rope but...if she really didn't get it...He wouldn't want to taint such a pure mind. Plus, they were in public, so talking about such things could end in embarrassment for both of them.

"I'm good with evasion, and I'm quite the fast runner." He tried to divert her training interests, "H-How about we start there instead?"

"Well... I'd prefer something easier on my stomach for a bit. We can try that later." Aoi giggled at how shy he was about this. Rin Rin was so adorable. She was an adult, she knew others thought about those things. He was a young human male, he needed to learn safe outlets.

"Its really okay Rin Rin. I won't judge you for this."

"Ju...Judge? I don't- I..." Rin let out a sigh, she seemed positive that this was a thing with him. "I've never really been interested in...k-kinks..." He muttered, quietly so no one around could really hear other than Aoi, finally voicing the thoughts he'd had since practically yesterday.

Aoi leaned closer to Rin, trying to hear better. It seemed... She was mistaken. She had hurt him again. Her face turned beat red... Aoi put her head down and hit behind her hair again, moving it forward so he couldn't see her shame...

"I-I am sorry!" Her voice squeaked really high, cracking on sorry.

"Ah, no, no. It's fine, I guess...Umm, with the...circumstances of my a..abilities it's an...obvious...ahh, mistake to make...?" Rin said, his voice getting a quieter near the end as embarrassment flushed him over while trying to calm Aoi's worries of hurting him.

"I-In a way I guess I can be...partly to blame..for not saying anything until now...that is." He added, looking off to the side as he felt heat in his face.

Aoi's hair covered her face, but she looked up to see Rin Rin's face just as red as hers. He had been so shy he couldn't tell her no... She had pushed him around with things she thought was what he wanted without finding out.

She sniffled as she started crying rather silently, staring at the ground. "I'm so sorry Rin Rin! I am undeserving of your kindness."

"Ahh, no, I...Like I said, it's fine, really, you had no way of knowing." He said, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his head.

Now she felt bad, which in turn made him wonder if there was something he could do to brighten her mood again. "If you want we can still go to a hardware store for you to look around...in...and after that I'll be happy to take you to my house like you wanted. How about that?"

"Its... okay. We can go to your house instead." Aoi stubbed her toe on the ground before reaching out with her free hand and taking his. She didn't want to get lost while being so shamed, she couldn't face him. Touching was another matter, the young woman would hold onto him.

"You can have some of my treats too, we can share them. Is there anything else I can do for you there?"

"Alright, then we'll head there then." Rin said in reply as Aoi took his hand, though he still noted how she couldn't exactly look him in the eye right now. He knew she probably still felt bad about her assumptions and the like, so he'd need to do what he could to brighten her mood again.

"It's a little bit of a walk from here, if you'd like I can call a cab to save time?" He asked, regretting he hadn't brought the care, then again, he hadn't exactly known they'd be visiting home until earlier today. Plus, he was much more used to walking in general, it let his thoughts flow better when he was working.

"Whats a cab?" Aoi knew about cars but she hadn't ever been in one and had no idea what a cab could be. She brightened up a bit, the dark aura around her lifting as she looked up and squeezed the hand. "Is it fun? Is it like a special travel thing? Do you summon it with kido type abilities?"

"Ah, I don't know what kido is but a cab is a service where if you call for one a driver comes to pick you up and take you to where you want to go for a determined fee." Rin explained, "Next time I'll bring the car and drive myself but for now we can either take the walk or a cab, whichever you'd like."

"I wish to experience this cab. I have wanted to try this, car riding, for a bit now. They are the big machines we see nearby going past so quickly, almost as fast of shinpo. Kido is magic. You cast it and use it for detaining or attacking, or even healing." Aoi spoke quickly, her previous excitement growing. She started vibrating again.

"Ah, I see, sounds like a useful art." Rin said before turning towards the highway and hailing for a cab by raising his arm in the air; it wasn't long before one came and stopped by the pair.

Rin quickly gave the driver the location after having opened the door for Aoi to get in first. The given destination being just a few minutes walk from his actual home.

"There are some nice binding ones..." She giggled a bit and looked away. Maybe he would get she was trying to joke about it and maybe loosen things again?

Aoi stared into the doorway, seeing the seats. She was more than a bit nervous, but she slid into the cab and sat there, shaking slightly. What would this be like? A wagon or carriage ride? Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.