INTERVIEW THREAD: RIN AOYAMA! or "The Red-Faced Romantic."

Alison headed at a steady pace for the cafe, her heels clicking rhythmically against the sidewalk of the plaza as she checked everything. Hair? Fine. Makeup? Fine. Professionalism was important and that included appearance. But it was not nearly as important as... Ah. Notepad? Check. Notes? Also check. Phone? Just in case. Pens? Only two of course. Tablet? Obviously.

Satisfied that she had everything prepared, she continued to walk before hearing a little 'ahem' in her head. "Hm?" She made a noise in response, glancing up, as if there was anything up there. "Did I forget something?"

You still have the pictures pulled up on your tablet, don't you.

With a small "Frick!" Alison yanked out her tablet and pulled it up, grimacing as the photo in question was the first thing to fill the screen. She went to the home menu before tucking it back in the purse. "Ahem.." She said aloud before thinking the rest Thank you, Meiko.

It's why you bring me along on, Alison.

As Alison approached the cafe, she spied the Fullbringer already at a nice little seat overlooking the plaza. She gave a small wave as she headed up, stepping lightly through the array of chairs and tables over to him. "Hello! Sorry I.." She glanced down at her watch. "Oh. I'm actually on time. Well. Thank you for getting here early." She sat down and gently slung her purse over the side of the chair." It really drags down the process more then you would think when the interviewee is late." She adjusted herself and removed her sunglasses, placing them in her purse.

She extended her hand across the table to shake his. "I know we spoke on the phone, but it's a pleasure to formally meet you, Mr. Aoyama. My name is Alison Lauregarde. Of course, like I said before, I'm a journalist for the Monthly Spirit and I'd like to interview you for my column, The Other Side." She settled in her chair before looking for a waiter. "Here, can I get you anything to eat or drink, Mr. Aoyama?"

Rin sat in his seat, waiting on the reporter he'd spoken with on the phone. He'd been skeptical, considering the name of paper she claimed to be a journal for; wondering why someone like her wanted to interview a romance author when she could be interviewing those that wrote horror or ghost stories. She knew about him being a fullbringer though, and that skepticism had faded with that; the reveal of her knowledge of him making him realize this wasn't some normal interview like he was used to. He'd agreed to come though, curious about this Monthly Spirit.

As long as this didn't drag any dangerous attention towards him, or mainly Ruka, he was fine with the interview.

He gave a small breath, now feeling the slight presence of one with awareness approaching. He'd gotten better at it, sensing others that is. It wasn't long before he was approached, the presence he'd sensed being the woman that had contacted him.

"It's quite alright, I attempt to turn up early to these meetings so as not to burden the interviewer." He answered, giving a small smile, extending his hand to shake hers as she introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you as well." He replied as she sat down at the table. "I'll just have a small cup of tea."

"Oh! If only everyone was that gracious. I've had to wait hours for an interview before." She sighed, shaking her head. "That's not counting the time that the idiot I was interviewing thought we were meeting across town." She shrugged. "But that is neither here nor there." She caught the waiter's attention, ordering a small tea for Mr. Aoyama and a large blueberry iced coffee for herself. She went to open her mouth before she heard Meiko's voice.

He ordered a tea, not a meal. He doesn't want to chat.

Without missing a beat, she continued "Well. There's just a few... preliminary things we should take care of." She said, pulling out her notepad. She also tugged her tablet out of her purse and set it on her lap. "First of all, we should cover danger areas. Y'know, specific subjects or questions you do NOT want asked during the interview." She twirled her pen in her hand before tapping her notepad. "With these sorts of interviews, I've found it's best to establish boundaries for questions before hand." She said with a nice little smile.

"Secondly, just any questions you have about the article, my column, or the magazine in general before we start?"

"That's fine." Rin replied in response to touching areas that would better be left untouched. It was good she was getting this out of the way, some interviewers never thought about it and just asked... "Hmm, I suppose I'll be a little blunt if you don't mind." He said before giving a small breath before continuing. "My sister. She's not to be approached or asked anything. She's normal, she doesn't know about me and I don't plan on her finding out any time soon."

He understood this interview, considering it involved spiritually aware people such interviews could lead to dangerous situations. As long as it was him that was bothered and not Ruka he was content. With her worried about how he was getting along in life, wondering if he was alright now that the accident and the hospital was behind them; he didn't want to add the stress of her finding out the occasional monster attacked him because he had developed inhuman powers.

If she started developing spiritual awareness...powers of her own, then he'd tell her. He'd promised to do so for her own safety. She had the potential, but so far she'd shown no signs of awareness despite being surrounded by those that could potentially awaken abilities within her on a constant basis. She was a normal human being and he hoped it'd stay that way.

"As for questions of my own..." He looked thoughtful for a moment, thinking over what exactly to ask. "Have you heard of anyone you interview being sought out? Possibly attacked? I'd just like the know the increase in danger level." He asked, giving a small smile if only to lighten the atmosphere a little as his question was probably a little off putting and he had turned a bit more serious than usual there for a moment. "I apologize for the seriousness, I'd just like to know as a precaution so as better to keep myself on guard as well as know to be sure so I can protect those close to me."

"Oh, not to worry." She said with a happy little wave of dismissal. "My interviews are conducted with the interviewee. I don't go around hassling their family for information. It's good to know that you don't want your whole family alerted to the article, however." She made a note to make sure that a complimentary copy wasn't sent to his family. She was also pleased that he'd basically given her a greenlight for question topics.

She tapped her lip with her pen as she thought about that last one. "Uhh... no, not particularly. You're already fairly well known and... Not that a famous author being a Fullbringer isn't noteworthy, but I hardly doubt it would give anyone cause to bother you." She said, with a little 'hmm'. He'd said a RISE in danger level. She scribbled something on her notepad, just a reminder for herself.

"So, let's get started. You are, of course, a rather rising star author of romance novels. What few realize is that you are also a Fullbringer. How long ago did your powers manifest and has that had any impact on your writing?"

Ruka wouldn't be bothered, that was good. It'd been one of his main concerns when he'd agreed to this and he was grateful he didn't need to worry much now.

He was quiet, listening as she asked her first question for him. He looked thoughtful for a moment, recalling when he'd first become aware of his abilities and how it'd impacted his life.

"They manifested around nine years ago shortly after I'd decided to turn in for the day. After discovering them, I suppose my usual work schedule was slightly skewed as I tried to figure out what exactly was happening to me, but once I was over the shock I tried continuing as normal." He explained, "I kept silent about it as...it's not a typical occurrence I could just talk with someone about. So during the first few weeks I wasn't able to get as much writing done as I'd have liked to but it evened out over time."

Alison scribbled little notes as she nodded along to what he was saying. "Very interesting. So while it impacted the production of your works, it didn't really affect their content. Also interesting there is that you mentioned there's not really many to talk about? How did your powers first manifest and who did you eventually find out more about them from?"

"I'd entered my bedroom after arriving home, I'd busied myself with a few chores beforehand...as I'd been a bit shaken up after having escaped a hollow. It wasn't the most terrifying I'd ever come across, but being without power without any means of defending myself I was a bit on edge. I escaped though, as it didn't keep it's chase up for long. When I'd finished those chores I went to my room and when I'd attempted to remove my scarf it transformed." He replied, giving another small smile as he began answering her next question. "I encountered others who were also spiritually aware, though it was by chance I did so. Had I not I'd still be without answers today. Luckily, I'm not and I'm able to better myself thanks to the knowledge I have now."

Meeting Aoi had been chance, but before her he'd encountered another fullbringer...but considering that fullbringer was wanted for countless murders he'd rather not speak of the encounter. He didn't have proper information about that man anyway and had not encountered him since.

"That must have been very scary, being attacked by a hollow. I like your comment about getting answers from other spiritually aware. A lot of people are of the opinion lately, that it's important for the spiritually aware to communicate, so that the recently aware don't suffer the confusion and fear that they did." She cleared her throat, before Meiko chimed in

Don't continue. Any longer and you'll be monologuing. Next question.

"As I'm sure many of our fans will be dying to know by now, what IS your Fullbring, specifically? If you don't mind my asking, of course." She said with a polite and cheerful smile.

"I'm thankful I met others, sometimes my curiosity on actually getting answers was troublesome for me. Now that I have answers I can rest easy." Rin responded, though at her next question his calm disposition changed slightly.

"Ah, well...my fullbring..." He glanced off to the side, trying to stall despite knowing there wasn't any use in doing so. Giving a breath, he pushed aside his slight embarrassment. "It's.....a whip. My scarf can morph into a whip..."

She leaned forward, her expression curious. "A whip?" She blinked a few times.

Haaaaahahahahahaaaahahahaaaa

Quiet, you!, thought Alison.

"Oftentimes, Fullbringers either influenced the manifestation of their fullbring or it was brought about by subconscious tendencies. What could it be that brought about a whip?" She asked, with a perfectly placid look on her face.

It's moments like this I can tell we were made by the same person Meiko said with a giggle.

Are you saying you feel like sisters?

Same difference.

"W-well...I have been told it's likely due to my need of being in control..." That hadn't...come out right. It hadn't come out right at all. "I mean, control in the sense I don't want to lose anything...such as myself or my emotions...like that." He tried to recall Aoi's words from one of their conversations on the topic; trying to recall exactly how she'd explained it.

"Despite that, even I must question why it chose to take a whip as it's form...It's a bit embarrassing."

"Control?" She raised an eyebrow as Meiko continued to laugh hysterically. "That sounds..." She quieted down as he tried to explain himself, but once he admitted he didn't really know why it was a whip... "That sounds a little incriminating, though, doesn't it?" She said, with a nervous laugh before clearing her throat.

"Well, I suppose that's a good enough segue. Your primary genre of writing is romance, but many of your fans wonder about YOUR love life. So tell us, is there anyone special in your life?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

It's the main event! Meiko chimed in excitedly.

What a segue indeed...

His face reddened out of his control, only slightly, but still reddened nonetheless. In past interviews...before everything, it was a question he could just respond with no to but now well, now that wasn't exactly possible. Before answering, Rin cleared his throat; trying to relax himself so speaking would be easier. "I am currently in a relationship, yes."

She looked up, acting surprised. "Oh?" She smiled, as if finding out happy news. Anything to not let on that she already completely knew the whole deal. "Your fans are curious. Can you tell us about this mystery lady?"

"Ah, well..." Why couldn't he be one of those that could remain composed while being asked these sorts of questions? "She's very outgoing, sweet and c-cute."

Great, he'd stuttered...

He didn't really know what else he could say, considering it might just lead to more stuttering. What else? That he believed or at would like to believe they were a good match, with how reserved he was she helped him better himself with her overall brighter personality? There was no way he could just say something like that without turning into a mess. He felt heat in his face just talking about this subject...

How they met? Would that be good? It would be more than what he had given...

"We met in the park one day and well afterwards I offered to help show her some of the places in the city since she wasn't quite used to it, like some of the cafes and eating establishments."

Sweet and cute? I'll say Meiko chimed in. Alison opted to simply ignore her.

"That sounds pretty sweet. You mentioned she needed to be shown around. So she's from out of town?" If she didn't already know the truth she might not have asked it, but she wanted to give the author rope to hang himself with.

Rin gave a small nod, "Yes, that's correct."

It wasn't technically false, considering where Aoi was from it was certainly 'out of town.' He may be being interviewed for something that was meant for those spiritually aware, but Aoi being a shinigami was something he wasn't one-hundred percent positive he could just say. Aoi's business and job were exactly that, her's.

She nodded, looking down and scribbling something on her notepad. She twirled the pen up and bit the end of it. Hrm.. Now seemed about as good a time as any... "And.." She looked over, still biting the pen before twirling it back down to writing position. "Would this girlfriend have anything to do with reports of you and a shinigami woman going around town together?" Of course, her reports were a little more first hand knowledge, but they were reports nonetheless.

"Ah..." So it wasn't really anything to worry about being quiet about then...There wasn't anything wrong with it, but he'd been being vague about it due to not knowing if it was alright with Aoi...plus, woulding speaking of her in interviews raise the chance of people bothering her? She had work to do when she was here, she had breaks, but still...her work was best left undisturbed.

"I guess, I was being a bit vague for nothing then, huh?" Rin added, a small, sheepish chuckle escaping him.

She couldn't hold in the small giggle that escaped. "Well. Never underestimate good journalism, right? So. Anything more interesting you can divulge about your flame with that out of the bag?" She crossed one leg and began absentmindedly tapping her foot on the ground, hoping to get something juicy out of this.

"Well she's strong, much more capable in combat than I am." He answered, "She's been trying to help me in that department, so whenever she's around sometimes there's some training done."

It wasn't really combat training, mostly speed and stamina. When it came to combat traning, even if it was a small chance, he still didn't like the idea that he could accidentally deal damage to her...and twice now he had. They hadn't been serious, of course, but still...

He'd been relieved that when he'd been forward with her about it and how he felt when it came to that type of training she'd understood after some thought on it.

"Oh? So she's concerned for your safety over hollow attacks. She sounds very caring. Is she a member of the Gotei 13? Or is she a freelance, or ex, shinigami?" The world had great inquiries about the love life of a romance author. Only now would poor Rin understand that.

"She is." Rin started, "A member of the Gotei 13 that is...though I'm afraid I don't know very much about it, the basics of the structure and such are the extent of my knowledge for the most part."

The structure, about divisions and such, he knew but he wasn't sure of everything. He knew Aoi was in the one that specified with Human World affairs, which was why she was able to come here so often and she had a high respect for her superior officer and other division members.

"Well." She leaned back in the chair a little. "The Gotei 13 is the 13 squads that police the Soul Society and Human World. She must have been from one of those squads. However.." She decided that if the boy wasn't going to make this any more dramatic, she might as well throw out her trump card. "If these pictures are anything to go by," She fiddled with her tablet for a few moments before handing it to him. Sure enough, on display was a picture of Aoi and he, on a sidewalk together. "It's safe to say you've become romantically entangled with Aoi Murohana, Lieutenant of the 6th Squad?"