Noodling Around [Open.R/Open]

[Ren Tenshi]

The Udon shop had become something of a prized possession for Ren. It was just as much her child as any of her daughters. Over a decade she had spent learning human food, and then she took over another decade actually running this little shop, that was actually more time invested than any of her children. In fact, the majority of the time if she wasn’t with one of her children, or Izumi she was most often in the Konkon Udon or assisting a client in some way.

That was exactly what Ren was doing this time though.

The Konkon Udon was not an ordinary shop for various cuisines. Ren actually ran it with both a spiritual staff and human staff, making both spiritual food and human food with her own personal recipes. It was certainly a lot of work to get the right kind of people together to produce the restaurant, but in the end it became worth it in so many ways. Because it meant she could cater to both spiritual beings and humans at the same time. Which possibly made her one of the few shops that did, in not just Karakura but all of Japan.

”You don’t understand, if you don’t help me I have no where else to turn.” The client across from Ren stuttered in fear and desperation. A faint glow of spiritual energy shimmering over the man that had his hands balled up on the table, his tight and bow shaped brows crunched together in pain and frustration. There really was little that Ren could do about the situation though. She stood up, her fox ears perking and her bushy white spiritual tail swishing about, as she removed herself from the booth they had been seated at, composed of spiritual particles hanging about halfway up the building, above all the human guests. She stood perfectly on the air and offered the best smile she could right after flicking a collection of bone white hair away from her face.

”I really am sorry, but you are going to have to leave. I have no problem catering to hollow that want to eat food and not souls, but I can’t do anything for you about this. You are essentially asking me to take down one of the biggest organizations in the spiritual worlds. Would you like me to go punch out Inari as well?” Ren explained with her teeth gritted, like she was actually managing to hold some ounce of her anger at this problem back. Out of all the investigative things she had come across being some kind of spirit detective for Karakura and what she could remember about being a Kitsune, she had never been asked by a spirit or otherwise, to actually go in and spy on an organization for another group.

”But, you can be paid. And-“ The man continued, his stark white mask piece clipped right under his chin, almost looking like a very rock hard beard. But Ren tossed a hand up with a stopping gesture and glared fire into the arrancar man’s soul.

”I said get out of my shop! I am not a spy. I investigate! And I will not get caught up between hollow and shinigami. I have enough of my own problems. Now Leave or I swear to the sky that I will force you out of here.” Ren pointed with her other hand straight to the massive doors that led out of the Udon shop, her face slightly turned crimson, as she realized she was yelling loud enough for any spiritually sensitive person to hear. The hollow just glared back at her with slit eyes that looked almost like a cat’s or a snake’s.

A few seconds passed where neither of them did anything. But then the mask-bearded man swiveled his body to take three steps away from the booth, standing on the air as well near the roof before he glanced back at Ren’s fierce expression. ”You’ll be sorry you didn’t take this. It will come back to bite you later on. Just wait. You can’t stay neutral forever.”

It almost seemed like Ren didn’t move at first, but she sprung across the room in what seemed to be a single leap, one of her pasty white hands pressed perfectly to grip against to majority of what remained of the hollow’s mask. She tilted her head to the side and one of her white ears twitched ever so lightly. ”If I wasn’t in my own shop, you would already be back in the reincarnation wheel. Don’t you dare ever threaten me. And for the record, I am not neutral, I just don’t give a damn shit about you hollow, or shinigami. So get. Out. Of. My. Shop. Or you really won’t ever see your home again.”

Not another word came out of the hollow, as Ren smiled softly toward him, and released her hand from the piece of his mask she held. The mask-bearded arrancar was out of the Konkon Udon in mere seconds, while Ren was turning around to lower herself back down onto the normal ground. She tossed her head low and shook it a few times, trying to let loose some of her rage. Hardly twenty years ago, Ren would have smashed that hollow straight through the wall and blasted it into tiny pieces for saying the things it had. Somehow her rage had been tempered, even just slightly.

Maybe that was Izumi’s doing. Maybe it was just apart of being human. And mortal for that matter.

”If only all my days were this exciting.” Ren mused to herself, before looking over at the clock on the wall of the shop. Her eyes traced across the various wooden finished tables, and to the bar set up, connected to the kitchen for quick ordering, the spiritual seats hanging over the normal seats, much like the rest of the place. If one looked in normally, they might have thought the entire place had mirrors on the ceiling almost. ”I shouldn’t have another possible client for another three hours at least. Plenty of time to get some cooking done maybe.”

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Word Count: 1027
EP Gained: 4
EP Total for Thread: 4

[Kiriko Tenshi]

"Another one!" She yelled in enthusiasm before bursting out of another bush covered from head to toe in twigs, leaves and dirt. Kirishi Tenshi, sister of the heiress of the Tenshi clan and daughter of Izumi Ren and the scion of Amaterasu, fell to the forest's muddy ground as she found herself in what her sister would call one of the least dignified positions she had ever seen. Fortunately, Tenko's mind was focused on her archery and allowing her wild sister some much needed time off in the wilderness--the vast forest that spanned from behind the estate to around the western half of Karakura. And despite her status as a daughter of the noble family that laid claim to such a vast expanse of spiritual territory, the young girl was still content doing nothing more than spending time with the smallest and least significant kami in the forests and hills surrounding the Tenshi shrines.

"I...I don't think this is it..." she said as she lifted a small mushroom from the forest floor. The thing was as white as the girl's long hair--the one part of her body she seemed to keep clean; a feat, given her hobbies, only manageable with the use of her powers. "Are you sure you saw it around here?"

”This is a special one,” A rhaspy but quiet voice called out from behind the young girl. What appeared to be tiny man with the hat of a mushroom and a simple and blank paper-mask over his face finished his fifth climb over the rambunctious young girl's back and onto her shoulder. He was no taller than three inches--his odd brown and blue spotted kimono appearing to be nothing more than patched together spots of mold. ”But its not quite what I'm looking for, Kirishi-sama.”

”Hmph,” Kirishi said as she bit half the cap and gave it a quick taste. The tiny man looked up in shock as Kirishi chewed the edible fungus. This was the first mushroom she managed to find that the little man didn't specifically say was poisonous...and it was true that it wasn't necessarily dangerous...

”That's not a very smart thing to do, young master.” spoke a third voice, more masculine, yet smoother, louder and more approachable. Looking upwards, a masculine kami at least seven-feet tall loomed over the odd pair. He appeared otherwise almost identical to the small fungal spirit that rest on Kirishi's shoulder—the blue skin of his hands matching the mold-stitched patchwork kimono that lead one's eyes to a blank sheet of paper covering a face and suspended from a makeshift jingasa made from an almost comically large mushroom cap. Reaching out his hand towards the young one, he lifted the thankful young half-kitsune to her feet and gave her a short bow.

”Excuse me, both of you,” the elder kami spoke slowly, a wheezing eminent in its otherwise formal voice as it continued its bow. ”But I've been watching you for the better part of the day and I believe I have what you seek...”

Reaching out his hand, a small white mushroom with red and tan spots blossomed forth from the palm of his hand. Kirishi's eyes lit up as the kami on her shoulder fell to its knees. The pair had spent at least four hours looking for the particular cap—its poisonous spores the only known way to lance a parasite from an old arrowroot tree the minor-kami had been living for the past fifty-three years.

”A-arigtaou!” The young-one said as he bowed so deeply he almost fell off Kirishi's tiny shoulder. Streaks appeared on the tiny thing's neck as it teared up in its deep bow—Kirishi could only watch in her peripheal vision as the tiny thing tried desperately to express its gratittude to the elder kami. ”W-what can I ever do to thank you!?”

”Please...just remember her kindness...” He spoke, gesturing towards Kirishi who could only respond with am embarrased peep. Despite her status in the woods given her family's reputation, she still felt quite nervous when the kami of the forest, most of whom were significantly older than her and, in some cases, even her parents. There was an awkward silence as Kirishi watched the older kami almost painfully pluck the small mushroom from his body and, holding it at the end of its long slender hands, slowly set the thing in the grateful, waiting arms of the shrimpy spirit that quickly leapt from the young girl's shoulder and sped off without a moment to lose...

”T-thank you, kami-sama!” Kirishi stuttered with a deep bow to the looming spirit. Raising her head from the bow before she was given permission, she looked around and up towards the sun to gauge its position—the mold kami visually searching along with her as though trying to spot whatever it was the human was on the lookout for. Looking over her shoulder back towards the town, she spun around before looking back at the kami one last time and giving him a full faced grin and a strikingly bold thumbs-up. ”I didn't expect it would take so long—so if your looking for anything yourself, please wait until tommorrow. I gotta bolt now!”

”Just one moment,” the kami spoke with an oddly clearer voice as he set his hand upon the young girl's shoulder. Kirishi didn't bother looking back—the plant kami's every movement being more easily detectable by her other senses. ”All I ask is that you reflect upon one simple thing, my darling half-breed.”

Kirishi's eyes opened wide as she heard the almost derogatory term. Kirishi wasn't mad at the elder kami—quite the opposite: she was almost pleased to hear a spirit in these woods who was willing to speak with her as anything other than a sniveling servant unworthy of her time. She felt a presence—a sort of proud sense of self from the spirit that in some ways comforted her. She felt a sort of power that made her feel at ease with the spirit whose bizarre appearance would likely startle even her sister. And as what appeared to be a large tongue crept out of its mouth towards the young girl, Kirishi stood calm and relaxed in the presence of the elder kami. The outstretched vine-like appendage made its way before Kirishi's face before wrapping itself in a circle—framing Kirishi's view of karakura through a small break in the otherwise seemingly endless expanse of trees. The kami wanted her to know that it knew where she was headed off too. It knew Kirishi was different from the spirits she played with almost every day in the otherwise uninhabited woods.

”I'm afraid that someday soon you must decide, young Tenshi, whether your place is in the city” the thing spoke, its words uninhibited by the position of the tongue-like limb eminating from beneath its mask. Lifting its hand from her shoulder, it quickly withdrew its tongue in a way as though to lead her glance from it to his now outstretched hand. Five mushrooms popped into existence on the thing's hand, surrounded on all sides by some grassy weeds as though representing a microcosm of the forest itself. They were fairly expensive mushrooms—a delicacy to some, in fact. But they served more important functions for the pair—as a symbol. ”Or here.”

There was a moment of awkward silence between the pair as Kirishi stood baffled by the strange spirit's words. The thing's hand lie perfectly still as only the smallest specks of reishi occasionally flickered from its outstretched arm—its spindly and otherworldly form otherwise unmoving as it hung over the short-young girl in a phantom-like posture.

”I...I thi-”

”-No.” The thing spoke clearly and quickly, intentionally cutting off the young girl. ”This is not the time to answer—you must go. But please—take these. Eat it. Consider it my gift.”

Kirishi carefully plucked the mushrooms from the spirit's hand—finding them easier to pull up than from the dirt itself. Looking over the mushrooms with a strange curiosity, she took a bite out of one of the caps and let it sit on her tongue for only a moment before swallowing it whole. It was good...but why would the kami be so persistent about taking the gift?

Spinning around to thank him, Kirishi's disappointed gaze met only the air. The kami had vanished—leaving somehow without even displacing the air. Confused, but unaffordable the luxury of contemplation given the late hour, the young girl stuffed the remaining mushrooms in a small pouch on her belt and ran for the city. If her sister had known how long she spent in the woods, she was sure she would have scolded her...she was at least one or even two hours late for her shift!

--

”O-kas-an!” Kirishi rang out in excitement as she ran into the door of the noodle-shop. Her face, clothes and even bare feet were still covered in mud and grime—the only part of her body even remotely clean being her hair. Dropping the pouch containing the day's harvest on the counter of the bar, she beamed proudly at her mother. The bag was fairly full--at least six pounds of mushrooms collected that day both alongside the minor-kami and with the mysterious elder spirit that helped her on her little quest that day. There was also a handful of roots and a light-blue feather affixed to the clasp of the bag she found before her fungus-hunt began. ”I brought you a gift!”



WC: 1522

((OOC: Tenko sent a change of clothes for her sister to the noodle-house, knowing she couldn't keep herself clean if her shift was later in the day. It'd be in an opaque bag and there's a bit of a surprise in there for Kirishi too There's at least a pound of Mattake in the bag too...I'll let you google that :3))

[Ren Tenshi]

Peace and quiet was one of those rare commodities that Ren never really got anymore. It was the sacrifice for having children, and a large noodle shop, everywhere she went there was chatter. But her cooking time was always one of the calm ones. She had just finished up three orders of Kitsune Udon, and delivered them out, back in her physical body to a few humans that seemed very unlikely that they even knew a spiritual building was right on top of the one they were sitting in, before Kirishi appeared.

The only reason Ren knew it was Kirishi was because only the little troublemaker would show up late to her shift at the Udon shop, covered in all sorts of mud. Ren looked to the bag as she passed around the bar, then to Kirishi, smiling lightly before shaking her head. ”A gift? If you think a cute little daughter wrapped in mud and late for work is a gift, then maybe I haven’t raised you right!”

Of course Ren knew it was likely the bag the naughtier twin set down was probably the gift. But she was at least brought down from the bad mood the earlier arrancar had put her in. She leaned up against the bar counter and looked over sifting a single hand over the top of the bag to look in, and her golden eyes went wide almost immediately. ”Kiri-chan, where did you get so many of this kind of mushroom. There must be thousands of yen worth of mushroom here.”

Ren’s eyes flitted from the bag, her mouth still open from shock, as she looked to the little dirty twin. You were playing in the forest near the house again weren’t you?” Ren sighed, she felt like it was dangerous playing back there, spiritual beings were frequent to the area, and one of these days Kirishi was going to get into trouble, again. She attempted another smile though, as she crossed over to the dirty little girl, and reached across the counter to wrap her arms around the girl in a hug, she then kissed Kirishi’s forehead. ”Thank you for the present.” She added before pulling back a few inches. ”But that doesn’t excuse that you were late for work, and your punishment. And you come all dirty like that. Luckily your sister brought over some clothes for you. They are in the back, take the mushrooms with you too, put them on one of the counters back there, before I figure out where I want them.”

Ren removed her hands from Kirishi and away from the counter, raising her light eyebrows over dark skin at one of her youngest daughters. Strangely though, every time she looked at Kirishi she was reminded of Kionchi. Especially then, when Kirishi had the distinct spicy scent of a specific type of mushroom, lingering about her body. She wondered if her own sibling was okay, where ever Kionchi ended up. And wondered what the sly fox would say about Ren having a family now.

But Ren’s lingering moment in the past didn’t last, as she directed herself to another customer, to get an order going. Of course she wasn’t the only person working in her Udon shop. Besides Kirishi now, she had two other waitresses and two cooks. One spiritual, and one physical, each. Kirishi was mostly just an addition, she didn’t want to ever force her daughters to work the shop, even though Tenko offers all the time.

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Word Count: 583
EP Earned: 2
EP Total for Thread: 6

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