A Hard Day's Work

Alison had...stacked all of the futons on top of each other... He blinked at the sight as he walked into the room, and as Alison greeted him as if this were her royal domain. He'd never seen such a thing done before and he seemed quite surprised by it.

It was not a bad reaction though.

His typical smile returned after only a moment though, and he carried in the trays of food for them and set them down at the low table located within the room. "I got a few things, so there should be something you find delicious in there!"

Alison gave a sheepish smile at his reaction. She smoothed out the Yukata she'd put on, which certainly breathed better than the clothes she'd been wearing, which now hung neatly over a small chest in the corner. She eyed the food as he placed it out. Ooh... She got up and walked over, waiting till he was done before pulling the table carefully over to the makeshift mattress she'd made before letting it settle, sitting back onto the comfyness.

"Come come, sit." She said, scooting over to make room and patting the pillows next to her. "It's comfier than the floor, I promise." She wasn't unaccustomed to sitting on the floor.... She just... didn't prefer it...

Giving a nod, he moved to sit over where Alison had requested he sit, seating himself on the pillows she'd set up. It was more comfortable than the floor, yes.

He could smell the food, and it all smelled good; he could finally eat the okonomiyaki he'd been wanting all day~ At this thought, he seemed to begin emanating utter happiness. So good~ Aaa~

Plus all the other food too, he'd gotten plenty!

"Out of the things I got, I brought up..." As he began speaking, he began listing the names of the food items as he gestured them to her, though he was sure she had to be familiar with some of them. "Odango, takoyaki...and there's udon too, some gyoza, and here is the okonomiyaki~!"

Lots and lots of food~

Alison smiled, scooting over a bit to make room. She was tempted to scoot closer but... she was really trying not to embarrass herself.... any more than she already had at least. She looked over and grinned at how just... happy Saaya looked. She looked away as a briefly lived blush bloomed on her face before she looked at the food.

She nodded as he listed off the food items, crossing one leg over the other. "Mhm, mhm mhm..." She looked over at him with a little flat expression. "I don't know what any of those are, really." She said with a tone that matched her expression. "I don't live in Japan and only really go there on business.... Usually when I come to the Rukon on business I get ramen."

She held her hand out, palm up. "Here, just pick something out for me and I'll try it."

So she was a blank slate to these foods... Hn... Hopefully she would like some of it then! He liked it all, but someone not used to the cuisine might not... He hoped he did well with the choices!

"Alright... Let's try..." He looked over the food, wanting to start with something simple first. "Gyoza! Here..."

He picked up one of the gyoza pieces with a pair of chopsticks, placing it on the plate that he'd gotten for Alison, while he had his own.

It seemed like a simple enough first choice! They were dumplings with meat and vegetables in side.

She looked at the odd little dumpling on the plate he gave her with a mixture of wonder, curiosity, disgust and wariness. It was a complicated little frown, basically. "I dunno about this..." And she was supposed to eat it with chopsticks? She knew how to do that, but for a dumpling? Hrm... That seemed dumb... She looked at him, turning a bit so it would at least be... LESS obvious she was forgoing the chopsticks.

She tipped the plate up and dumped the dumpling into her mouth. Well it tasted

OW. OW. HOT. HOT. OH GOD. WHY. WHY DID SHE DO THIS. OW OW OW OW.

She refused to spit it out, but the look of panic and pain on her face, reflexive tears starting to well spoke for her.

"Eh!? Wait that's h-" Before he could finish his warning, the dumpling had been dumped into Alison's mouth...and she paid the price for it. It was freshly cooked, and therefore very hot still...

Quickly, he gathered a cup of water and set it in front of her. There was tea as well, but water would help cool her tongue.

"Here, I suppose I should have mentioned they were freshly cooked..."

She looked at him, too in pain to be furious. God, she would swallow it but it was too hooot... and she just... no. she couldn't spit it out. She had her dignity, damn it! She looked at the water and quickly took it, drinking swallowing the dumpling whole along with it, before drinking more of the water. She looked at him, tears welling up and nodded furiously. YES. YES HE SHOULD HAVE MENTIONED.

"Ahhh.." She fanned her mouth when it was finally empty. "I burned my tooongue... damn it... And my stomach hurts now... Jerk Naomi.." She grumbled, not meaning it but not particularly sweet when she was in pain.

"Sorry..." He apologized, his smile apologetic as Alison fanned her mouth; most of the food he'd gotten was cooked, and hot... The gyoza probably hadn't looked it though...

Looking at the okonomiyaki, he moved some of it onto his plate to begin eating it; he hadn't meant for her to burn her tongue, he should have mentioned it was all freshly cooked though, and that none of it was cold prepared...

Weh...

Her mouth was cooling but still hurt. She quickly grabbed some water and sipped it cooling off her tongue immensely. She let it sit there before swallowing. "Ahh... Better." She looked over at the sulking Naomi and frowned.

"Sorry... I'm a baby when I'm in pain sometimes." She said leaning over and putting an arm across his shoulders to give him a quick hug. "Thank you. It was delicious, even if it burned." She said with a happy smile.

"So what else have we got..." she put some of the okonomiyaki onto a plate. "I'll let this cool a bit before eating some." She said with another grin.

The water seemed to help, he knew it had to still burn but... at least the water helped.

"Welcome, welcome~" He answered towards her thanks, a smile reappearing at her words; her smile also helped to reassure him.

She was placing some of the okonomiyaki on her plate, good; he really hoped she liked that! He did give another nod though when she stated she'd let it cool; "Good idea... Try...while you're waiting on the okonomiyaki to cool... the odango!"

Saying that, he picked up one of the sticks of dumplings and offered it to her; "They're sweet, dumplings made out of mochiko."

Those should be fine to eat!

She gave a small light giggle at his grin. At least they were having fun. She looked at the okonomiyaki and set it down, giving it a moment to cool before taking the odango.

"O-okay!" She said, taking a bite. "Geez... You're gonna make me fat." She said with a laugh. But she was trying new things! That was good!

"Eeeh~?" Saaya was all smiles again; "It's good food though, so no worries! Plus, you look fine, and even after we eat I'm sure you'll still look fine!"

They were both eating, so it wasn't like either one had to eat allll of it~

He himself took one of the odango sticks, taking a bite out of one of the speared dumplings. Aaa~ So good! He couldn't wait for the okonomiyaki to cool a bit. Speaking of other food...

He speared one of the takoyaki pieces before popping it into his mouth, aa~ also good!

She sighed.  "Well at least one of us is worry free."  She said, finishing off the Odango.  She frowned at his complement.  "F-Fine."  She said with some slight grump.  What did he know?  He probably ate like a pig and looked like a stick.  Feh!

She looked at the Okonomiyaki... Hrm... Well this one looked tasty.  She glanced at it from a few angles before biting into it.  Hm. Not bad... kind of... odd... She frowned a little but really didn't mind it. It was an odd mixture of flavors. She quickly finished it before looking around.

She spotted what he'd taken. What was that one called? She picked it up and looked it over. Hrm.

After eating the piece of takoyaki, he finally moved on to his own okonomiyaki; he certainly seemed to enjoy it the moment he took his first bite. He was all smiles and radiating sunshine again as he began eating.

Glancing over to Alison, he noticed her looks of interest at the ate her own food before inspecting the takoyaki; he stopped eating for a moment and swallowed his food before speaking.

He hadn't really explained the okonomiyaki or the takoyaki yet...

"What you just ate was the okonomiyai! It can be made a lot of different ways, typically to the eater's enjoyment and what they like... There's different styles of making it in lots of places, this is...Hiroshima style. It's more layered rather than mixed... I kept it mostly simple, the noodles, the meat...and cheese, along with the sauce that goes with it."

Saying that, he took another bite and gave another smile.

"Takoyaki is something lots of people around here eat, like the odango, though it's not sweet." He continued; "It's made with a type of batter too, with diced octopus...scraps of tempura..." He rattled off, trying to list the things within it. "It sounds odd probably, but it's good!"

Alison was interested, nodding as he spoke. What she'd just ate didn't sound too bad. Not bad at all! Though as she listened... the Takoyaki... her face slowly looked like it might change color any moment. "D...Diced Octopus? Ehhhh..." Her face could not possibly have said 'nope' more.

"I... I'm gonna have to pass." She placed one hand to her mouth and held the other up, shaking it back and forth for further "NOPE" effect.

A sheepish laugh was what escaped next after he'd finished his explanation; it was likely a required taste, or well... required thought? She hadn't actually tasted it, but to her it sounded bad.

"I suppose it might not sound the best to those not accustomed to this cuisine, I'll eat the takoyaki then."

Oh well, at least there was plenty to eat.

That would be later though, as his priority for now was eating his okonomiyaki.

She snickered a little bit. "Taking a hit for the team? Okay. I'll have some more of these, for now." She said, picking up some more Odango. "Sorry, just... diced octopus? Eughggh... Where do you even get octopus in the soul society anyway? Wait, do you guys have an ocean?" She tipped her head, realizing she'd never really thought about it... "Holy shit, where do you guys get meat from? I've never seen a farm here..."

Whole slews of questions were suddenly racing through Alison's mind.

"Eh...?" At that question, he gave a confused tilt of the head; "I don't follow?"

Taking a hit for the team? For the takoyaki? He glanced down at the food; he knew she wasn't fond of the idea of it, but he liked it... So it wasn't a sacrifice in the slightest.

After a bit he took another piece of takoyaki and popped it into his mouth, glancing over to Alison as she asked about the oceans.

"Mm, well I'm not entirely sure? I would say so? I don't see why not... I've only traveled so many places, as for meat... same, I would assume there's farms?" He was a traveler not a food or...resource onwatcher so he just ate.

If eating establishments had something, he would try it; simple as that.

She frowned a little, thinking as she ate. "W-Wait... So you don't KNOW.." He was assuming, but wasn't the Rukon district just... slums as far as the eye could see? How were they even getting food in here? For this many people to be eating, food deliveries would have to be pretty constant... But if there's no food trucks or anything like that, how was that much food being moved? "That's... crazy... W-wait... have you ever even seen the ocean? Or... a farm for that matter?" She knew he was a traveler, but someone could spend a long time in the Rukon without ever seeing nature.

"Well, there's forests, lakes, rivers... I assume the rivers lead somewhere...an ocean perhaps? I've never traveled out far enough, or gone out of my way really to find those things..." He answered, looking thoughtful for a moment as he chose his words. "I assume even if one does not feel hunger...they can still make money by growing crops or selling goods to eating establishments and stores..."

He'd just never paid much attention to it, he just ate the food, not question how it got there... Even in his long he had yet to travel all over... Perhaps one day he'd find these things?

"Hm, but I've never HEARD of an ocean in Soul Society... Doesn't mean there isn't one, just I never heard of one. It's an interesting thought." She said, furrowing her brow before shrugging and eating more. "Oh well. It's my job to ask questions, but at the moment I believe I am thoroughly off the clock." She said with a happy smile.

"Though not as off the clock as I will be once we get down to that bath." She said with some motions that resembled a tiny dance of excitement...which is basically what it was. "As soon as you're full, I believe we could go down?" She could eat more, but she was full enough she could stop whenever.

"I guess it's something to find out someday?" He questioned before taking another bite of his food, he was almost done with his okonomiyaki, a shame, but it'd been delicious~! He'd eaten a few of the gyoza dumplings, as well as a couple of sticks of odango... Aah~ So much good food, he was in heaven~

Alison seemed excited about the baths, and from what he knew they were nice, the water was nice and warm and great to relax in.

He finished up eating, setting the empty dishes up neatly to pick up and throw away for when they headed out. "Alright, done~! We can go down now, from what I know the baths are really nice, great for relaxing~!"

She nodded, letting him take the dishes and stood up, anxiously hopping a little. It had been forever since she'd had a relaxing bath. Of course, it was a little less exciting knowing they were separated baths buuut... oh well. Not like she minded too much. She could still enjoy some relaxation even if it was a bit less steamy.

"Yes! Absolutely!" She reached down, taking his wrist in her hands before urging for him to come along towards the door, before letting go and darting out into the hall. She hadn't ever been at such an interesting hotel, as far as she could remember. Even the rustic inns she'd been to that had intended to replicate places like this hadn't been as authentic.

A light laugh was given as Alison seized his wrist for a moment in her excitement, watching as she let go to leave the room and run down the hall. She was getting the true, authentic experience here! He was pleased to see she was enjoying herself!

He followed after her, though keeping his walking pace at a normal rate; with Alison as excited as she was...he decided to pick up his pace a bit from time to time until he made it to the main area where they could walk to the baths.

"Uu~ So~! To the left is the women's baths." He pointed out once they were there, letting Alison know which was the door to go through, "There's sleeping robes and towels in there as well for you to use, so once your done with your bath it's all there!"