midnight tides

He had to apologize to that gigantic family of his for his delayed visitation. Of course they hardly minded. After all, one of them had ascended so high! They were delighted to hear the news that lil' Yebi, the youngest of all of those siblings, had become the captain of the eighth division. It had been so hectic as of late, it seemed this was one of the few opportunities he had to return home for the greater portion of a day.

It was where he was heading away from. He strides moved him further away from the sea far to the west and through the various districts. They weren't normal steps. Yebisu wasn't about to spend however much time it would take to casually walk from the Fathomless Sea, through like eighty districts and back to Seireitei.

His paces both slowed and came to a halt upon the notice of a certain somebody's presence. Maishin Taku, a youthful male of brown hair was sitting on the grass encompassing the nearby tavern. It didn't take any kind of special, perceptive skill to notice such a sullen mood.

Yebisu best approach this individual with care and sympat---

"Alcohol lose its charm!?" The voice was loud and originated directly next to Taku for it was there did Yebisu appear abruptly. "Well, if that's the case, maybe try mixin' it with some Salmonberry juice! Can't go wrong with juice!" A dark-purple bottle had been extracted at some point during his exclamations. He was rocking it back and forth as if to advertise a product. "Or just drink it pure. I dun know, it's up to you!"

Yebisu could not resist equipping a toothy, nigh shark-like grin as well as release a self-gratified, elongated, "hee" at the mention of his name and the delightful surprise highlighting its tone. Of course, his rambling relevant to the bottle of juice he'd just fished out followed. He was certainly happy to see a friend of his back atop a sturdy pair of feet instead of a glowering rump. The latter was okay, though, as long as it was an expression of indolent informality.

"Pft!" That was the sound of stifled laughter. Following it, another sound that mimicked air escaping a balloon ensued. He clearly found the iteration of that summarized story funny - too funny, in fact. He was making those voiceless chuckles that bled into an all-too potent fit of laughter. He had to sit down, place the butt of the bottle as gently as he could against the ground before squeezing out meek, laughter-sheared utterances heard as, "Oh my cod, I remember that! I remember that!" over and over.

He started to calm down. He had to. Taku was talking about something else and he wanted to listen. So, what a sight it would be to watch Yebisu give his attention to Taku with an expression teary-eyed and obviously holding back a torrent of laughter. It was the kind of face that would only produce squeaks in place of actual words. Actually, when Taku made the point that he should be calling him Hiruko-Taichou, that is exactly what happened.

"W-what?" Yebisu squeaked. It appeared he was not letting that mood become serious without a fight; though, it was hardly planned. It was just that all he could picture was Taku in a silly pose dripping green stuff.

Titles. It wasn't why he made his effort to take the position of captain and remained something he was, perhaps inappropriately so, lenient and uninterested in.

"Hee-- call me whatever," he said with a dismissive, slightly lethargic wave of a hand. "It's kind of a mouthful t' say all the time, isn't it? I dun know, maybe save it for back in the barracks?" It was obvious that, while he was displaying signs of being too soft and unconcerned about the small, albeit important things, he was aware of such. This was evidenced by the furling of his own tentacles with his slightly frustrated pair of hands. His hat even fell off. "Ugh, I guess I haven't gotten use to all this yet, huh," The conclusion of his statement was marked by his arms falling back to their respective sides and acting as makeshift supports for his upper body that leaned marginally backwards. His sights were cast skyward and upon the stars speckling the blackened canvas-of-a sky above.

Where did that juice go?

Well, at least Taku was agreeing with him. They were on the same level and he thought, 'yeah, it's totally normal.' In fact, he said that thought aloud, though it was more of a self-affirming mutter. It was completely understandable. Nothing to worry about.

Where was that juice again?

His company took a seat on the gloam-soaked grass adjacent to him. At the same time, Yebisu reached out to take hold of that neglected bottle of juice he'd recently set down. He commented on the beauty of the sky above and so quickly did the subject change. Yebisu knew it would and honestly, did not look forward to it. He had a hunch what his concerns were about, what was responsible for that world-weary breath the bled into the beginnings of his question.

Though, the odd captain looked at him with an innocent curiosity nonetheless as if he were none the wiser. There was something both pleasant and amiss about the kawako. It didn't matter what expression he placed, the question was still difficult to answer.

Well, he was downing the contents of the bottle. At about half way, he released a breath as if he'd just consumed some potent alcoholic beverage even though it was far from it. "I'm gonna be honest," he started while turning his focus to Taki. "That woman scared the barnacles outta me; but, how that position was taken..." His emerald eyes, liveliness thieved by the desaturating shades of nightfall, fell to the ground below. "From what I know, there was nothing official or even honourable about that match." He chucked. "Not like me to ramble about honour, but--"

He trailed off and decided to place a faint smile overtop a face that had grown too serious for too long - too long for him, anyway.

The bottle was upside down the second time around, held high overhead as Yebisu poured the rest of the contents into his esurient little mouth. He was clearly enjoying that juice, but it was a pretty well-known fact the blue, stature-challenged shinigami had the tastes of a child. One mightn't imagine that just the other day their commander and chief was slain, but Yebisu had his own methods of dealing with such and hardly would he do so in the presence of others.

"Huh? Favour?" Yebisu echoed as he caught the few final droplets the bottle had to offer him. With his question posed, Yebisu remained seemingly frozen in his pose for a time. It would come to an end after a conclusive, dark-pink droplet fell onto his still-extended tongue. He retracted it, closed his mouth, calmly resealed the bottle, slipped it away into his attire somewhere and reached for the hat that had fallen off of him at some point.

He tilted it to obscure his eyes and put on a face completely serious. A dramatic still settled over the two and then...

"PFT!" Laughter. Oh, there was so much laughter and seemingly out of nowhere. What was that all about? Actually, Yebisu would make it clear as day soon after. "The sharkleaf!" he exclaimed after leaning towards Taku and slapping a knee. It just came to him after he had a moment to reflect on the past. The past turned out to be the very, very recent past, seemingly.

He coughed with a balled fist positioned just beyond his mouth as if he were clearing his throat. "That - ahm. That's a pretty tall order, y' know." What he wanted to add was the perturbing feeling burbling within him - a feeling that seemed to suggest a need for stronger shinigami; true shinigami. "That could take like... a decade..." He said as a flux of reminder and proposal. Yebisu was curious how Taku would react. He had a hunch, though.

He rose a good point, yet a potentially harmful one. In fact, the comment that followed was likely placed there to alert Yebisu that indeed, he was aware that utilizing such a method disgorged with risk. At the same time, he had a lot of confidence in Taku. If push came to shove, his amount of worry relevant to his safety would be minimal.

Yebisu chucked though and answered with a lighthearted, "Not particularly, no," before he continued.

"Hm! I think there oughtta be some powerful people interested in workin' together again and solvin' those crises popin' up in the Material World. Might be this squad's task in doing just that. Bonding's kinda our thing."

Blessed with all of that power and fancy magic. Well, that was certainly a way of looking at it. Yebisu stood as well, which did nothing in terms of how Taku would still have to direct his sights downward anyway.

"Yeah, but what makes you up? What makes me up? The same stuff. Maybe we started of different levels, but I feel we're all capable of reachin' the same levels eventually. Maybe with different talents, but that's only natural. We're all essentially the same, but fundamentally different!"

With his arms spread wide and his sights placed dramatically into the sky, that contradiction was out of the way. He started up again. "Up for some practice then? I think-- nah, I know there's more to fish outta you. Let's find a place a lil' more vacant than here." And then Yebisu vanished, reappearing in spurts until his feet settled atop an expanse not littered with buildings.

Yeb was so impulsive, was he not? All that appeared to fall within the creature's wake following his departure was the soundings of Taku's confused exclamation. He was likely hard to get used to, but at least those around him were kept from falling victim to boredom.

He busied himself by looking about momentarily. It would be a good time to take of those specially-made socks and sandals of his and enjoy the muck and mire below, but he couldn't be bothered with that.

"Yeah, it's great! Breathe that fresh sea air in!" he replied as he drew a sudden, deep breath. "That bitta breeze is nice, too."

"...What?!" Yebisu cried as his fingers sprawled out due to the sheer potency of his surprise. "You don't carry it with you like... all the time? Mine's my buddy! I always carried it around with me! We take bathes together, eat together, indulge in the incredibility that is juice together. We take long walks by the beach, too! In fact, I just got done doin' that before I was making my way back!"

He hunched over, drooped over himself in what appeared to be disappointment. "I kinda wanted t' give yer's a closer look this time around, too." A stick came flying at him, which he grabbed out of the air with a morsel of air-headed intrigue. "This'll do!" He perked right back up.

"Yeah, the most adorable taichou that there ever was! Now swing that thing like y' mean it!" He stood firm with his trusty stick with both his mitts wrapped around its base. His face implied there was something to gain from all of this, though who knew if there really was.