Tea Time at High Noon [Closed/Tomie]

Oh, it's that foreigner-looking kid again.

She hadn't even been looking when she girl has entered her establishment, but the voice and the phrasing immediately gave away that it was her. Even her dumbest customers from the deepest parts of the district knows that calling her "tea lady" is not exactly proper language when going to a business. But due to her good manners, she promptly stuffs the rude remark in a mental hamper and pretends it didn't take place.

Her wide robe swings as she turns around to face what she recalls to be the face of an adolescent with blonde hair. "Welcome to Moyamoyasumi." She is correct. The kid somehow seems even smaller than last time she saw her, but that is likely due to the massive bundle strapped to her back. "Have you been keeping well, esteemed customer?" She serves the child a bow and a smile from behind the counter before retrieving the book from the shelf behind her to make room for the girl in the schedule.

She is taken slightly aback by the girl's question in regards of her well-being and briefly stops flipping through the tired pages of the book and looks up at the girl. Well, more like down at her, the creature is so small that it seems like she could well be stuffed in the same cloth stuck to her back. "I have been well, thank you. Busy, but well," she continues searching through the book, scribbling with her ink brush while doing so. Ressa Kachekiwa, is that her name? She finds it inscribed somewhere in the book, further back than she would have expected.

"I'm afraid I haven't really heard of any interesting rumors since you last were here," she states while writing the symbols for the girl's name on a blank and relatively fresh page, nigh nose deep in the fabric. "We don't really get interesting gossip around these parts. We're too far away from the upper districts to do that. It's mostly petty and personal." Smiling, she looks up at the girl who excuses herself for not coming that often.

Why would she feel the need to do that? Tomie doesn't expect her customers to announce when they are dropping by or even express if they aren't coming back; quite a few are travelers who simply visit once or twice before disappearing off the face of this district. Could it be that the girl simply has other reasons for not dropping by as frequently as she wants to?

No matter, she concludes, as she realizes that she doesn't really care what the foreign kid really is up to, unless it's some sort of criminal activity detrimental to the general population.

"Miss Kachekiwa, was it?" she puts the book back where it belongs before walking around the counter, closer to the customer, towering over the petite foreigner, who strangely seems to lack the accent most foreigners have. "Please enter the room to your left. I will be fetching the tea. What flavor do you want?"

After having directed her customer to the correct chamber, the madam heads towards the kitchen to gather the necessities for a tea session.

"Apologies for the delay," she partially mutters as she enters the room she instructed Kachekiwa to enter, board in hand. "Here." Placing a plain cup with no handle on one side of the table, Tomie sends her customer a reassuring, but stiff smile before placing the other cup from the board on the opposite end of the table. Soon thereafter, she sits down on a cushion and proceeds to take a sip from said cup.

"Now then. What has brought you to Moyamoyasumi today, if I might ask?"

"Pretty well, yeah," she replied with a nod of her head a little smirk, the latter born mostly from the other's reaction to her question. Was it really so strange to ask after the wellbeing of the other woman...? Try as she might, Lessa just couldn't deny the fact that she cared way too much for her liking, and that it'd be a shame if anything was plaguing the other. Not everyone was kind enough to run an establishment like this, it took a special sort of soul to decide to do it, and to put up with whatever anyone coming in might pull.

"And ah well...just figured I'd ask. Could always talk about the pettier rumors though, might be a fun way to pass the time," the small blonde girl suggested, trying to hide her disappointment as well as she could. No rumors, huh...? Well at the least she'd still be getting some tea here, so there was that. And Tomie was always a very interesting woman to talk to; despite being...well, not even a Shinigami, she had such a confidence in herself that most ordinary souls here in the Rukongai didn't. Then again, she supposed it would take confidence to run this place, wouldn't it?

Now that she thought about it, she knew, or had known, quite the number of confident people, hadn't she? Perhaps that was precisely why she thought of the other's wellbeing, because the others she had known had gone...somewhere and moved on. "Right, Kachekiwa. As for tea...let's go with green," only a moment's hesitation between deciding on either that or black, then she did as instructed and headed into the room, taking a seat soon enough. She wasn't alone for that long...but it was enough for her to think for a moment or two.

It was funny. A few years ago, if someone told her she'd be sitting in a tea house drinking tea? She'd probably laugh right in their face. But here she was, actually doing it. Honestly...what would the old her say if she came across her now? Probably some arrogant junk about this being too old-fasioned, boring, and all around dumb. Of course, her thoughts now didn't reflect such a thing; she'd found this sort of thing was just plain relaxing, there was no other word for it. In this place, she could try to forget her troubles and just...hrm. Forget her troubles? Funny, then, how she had wanted to use this place to gather up any rumors that might be floating around. That was hardly forgetting her troubles.

Her thoughts were broken by the woman returning, and although the smile was rather stiff, Lessa did her best to return it. She might be a hermit, and not the best at social manners, but even she could manage that. "Ah, well. To be honest I just wanted to check in and see how things were going...besides, I was sort of in the area, and it'd been a while since I was last by," she commented as she reached down to grab her cup and sip at her own tea. Then, a shrug was offered a moment later. "Besides all of that, I hardly ever drink tea. I think Moyamoyasumi's the only place I indulge myself, y'know?" she commented casually. Geez, had she actually managed to say the name of this place? It had always been such a mouthful to her.

"Say, any reason you were surprised earlier when I asked how you were doin'? I mean, is it really so surprising, since if you weren't doing well, the tea house wouldn't be doing so hot either? And I happen to like this place."

Seems like this kid is thoroughly bored.

Perhaps she is one of those people who just cannot stay in one place at a time due to an incessant inner itch and travels constantly as a result; it has been quite a while since she last saw the blonde. But at the same time, the madam deems this scenario unlikely. Last time she had seen the girl, she had dropped by repeatedly over the course of a few days before vanishing into the thin air. Initially, Tomie had paid it little mind, only noticing that she wasn't dropping by at all after a few days had passed and when she flipped through the pages of her little black book. The girl hadn't expressed being a permanent resident of the district, so the stray observation because but a fleeting thought.

This makes the child's reemergence more intriguing, especially since it has been such an extended period of time. Where does she come from? Where did she go? And most importantly: why is she back?

Wanderers of the Rukongai seldom make reappearances in her district, and most tend to be years apart. Then this little girl makes an unceremonious reappearance, excuses herself for not visiting, as if the owner should expect otherwise, and addresses her in a rather casual manner.

The likelihood of this golden child being your run-of-the-mill Rukongai denizen seems to decrease with every sentence she utters, with every subtle observation Tomie makes. The expansive cloth strapped to her back does her no favors either, as it could contain an array of objects, possibly smuggled or illegal, that she has brought into her esteemed tea house. But if her memory does not betray her, this Kachekiwa had brought a cloth-wrapped item of a similar shape the last few times she had visited as well, so her worries are absolutely minimal.

"Green tea it is," she beams, before leaving the girl to her own devices before fetching the liquid. Green tea, huh? She certainly is not particularly well-versed in the ways of tea. There are so many varieties of green tea, more than those of its cousin, black tea, but since the girl seems to lack the cultural understanding for such this noble art, the madam swiftly deduces that she can just pick a type of her liking; it's not as if the girl's gonna think of it as a particular variety of green tea.

So she goes with her own personal favorite: plain matcha.

Inconveniently, it appears as if the girls on kitchen duty have promptly forgotten to boil water altogether: the kettle, which is usually filled to the brim with steaming water, is completely empty. Oh, those lazy employees. I'll have to give them a scolding later.

Fortunately, since it is her, it is not that much of an inconvenience.

Submerging the entire vessel in the barrel in the corner until it is full, Tomie then pulls it out, lets the excess run back into the source, before placing it on the stove. Pointing at the kettle, which she has refrained from putting the lid on, she concentrates her magic on the liquid within, transferring her own energy into it. It does not take long until bubbles pop and burst within, the metal shaking a bit back and forth, before she lets go, allowing the water to rest.

With a smile on her face and the tea prepared in delicate porcelain cups, she returns to the room she had instructed her customer to visit. "Please be careful, it's rather hot," she adds, as she sits down, feeling the heat permeating through her cup to her own hand.

Well, at least the girl admits to not exactly being a tea expert. It's better than nothing, she muses, as she takes a sip from the green beverage; it scalds her gums and burns her tongue in the way it should. "Well, I certainly hope you're enjoying yourself when you visit at least, Miss Kachekiwa." The remark is uttered with the same stiff sort of smile she had sent the girl earlier, entertained, but not entirely genuine.

"Oh, I was just surprised that you inquired about my personal being of well. Not many customers do that. I am merely an extension of Moyamoyasumi," she explains, bowing briefly before her guest as a sign of respect before continuing. "The business is doing fine too. We've been here for a century and will likely be here for another unless we encounter unforeseen misfortunes."

She takes another sip from her drink, calmly closing her eyes as the bitterness envelops her palate. "It is nice to know that you and your sword enjoy our services, Miss Kachekiwa." Cup still in hand, eyes heavily lidded, chocolate pupils barely visible, but still trailing the blonde, she allows a pregnant pause to take over the room before she unveils the deduction. "The occasional rattling gives it away."

An accusing finger points at the clothed bag briefly until the other puts the cup down. "Worry not. I have no qualms with you bearing arms to protect yourself in a hostile environment like the Rukongai."

"I'll be careful," she nodded, smiling just a little bit at the warning. Honestly, tea of all things was the least dangerous thing she had to worry about at the moment, but of course, she couldn't say that. As far as anyone was concerned, she had to be a simple Rukongai resident, and that was it. She couldn't appear to be anything else, because being anything other than that would be far, far too dangerous. The girl allowed herself to just lose herself in her thoughts for a moment or two as she reached down, carefully taking a sip out of the tea.

Just as the woman had said, it was hot, but that was really no surprise. At this point, she had drank enough of the tea here to start to get used to expecting the heat of it, and to not wince when it ran down her throat. If anything, she seemed more happy than in pain, because as...tame as this was, at least it was nice and peaceful. That was one of the few things she could grant herself now that she was on the run. When the woman spoke next, she arched a brow and looked up, away from her tea to eye the other for a second before chuckling. "Of course I am. If I wasn't, why would I keep coming here? It'd be pretty silly to do something you don't want to do," she spoke hypocritically, of course.

That exact thing was what she had done upon her return to the Seireitei, after all; forced to work for it, that is. Mostly it had been for the sake of the Vaizards she knew, her brothers Kyousuke and Mitsutaka. She hadn't really believed in it upon her return, and right now, she still didn't, not really. And if Lessa noticed that the smile she was being given wasn't genuine, she sure didn't seem to show it; the girl gave a smile right back to Tomie, before busying herself with the tea, sipping some more of it and letting out a somewhat loud, content sigh as she closed her eyes.

As...silly as it was, she had to admit that if she had to spend her days like this, on the way while occasionally stopping into this place for tea, she wouldn't mind it too badly. Of course, there was still that burning need to find out what had happened in the Soul Society, and more importantly, what had gotten into Miki's mind...questions to think about for another time, of course. Tomie had spoken again, and she guessed it'd be a bit rude of her to keep the woman waiting for a response.

"I dunno how true that is. I mean...without you, what sort of place would this be? You run it all, and you've got a good thing going, so...yeah. Don't sell yourself short," she waved away the other's humility, before her eyes opened suddenly at the next words out of her mouth. It was only by her sheer force of will that she didn't drop the cup of tea in her hand as she stared at the woman in surprise, trying to figure out what to say.

Before she could panic too much, however, Tomie spoke up again, the tension fading from Lessa's shoulders at that. She had been scared...no, terrified and thought that, somehow, Tomie was working with Shinigami, or something equally silly like that. The girl just let out a somewhat sheepish chuckle and eyed the ground, doing her best to act as well as she could.

"Ah...sorry. I guess it is sort of conspicuous, really ought to think of fixing that somehow...and sorry for not telling you. Just...sort of important to be careful nowadays. That's how I feel, anyway."

The kid has deduced the truth, no doubt about that. As humble as she is acting right now, Tomie knows the truth behind her business' very existence. She might be going out of her way to act as if her influence has been minimal in this district, it could not be further away from the truth. She had dug her hand into the soil and planted a sapling when she came here. It had grown rapidly, stretching towards the skies, enveloping whatever's close with its roots. It is a splendid tree today, providing nice shade and fruit for those who water it. Everyone are welcome, as long as they can pay patronage and refrain from tarnishing it.

But she doesn't really mind the latter all the time. The tree is quite large, and the nicks heal rather fast. It does also need manure to grow faster. Plenty of that around, too.

Alas, this is something she would never admit out loud to anyone, not even her closest friends. Who don't really exist. Well, to any of her employees, at least. Her pride dictates that she should never show any sort of boastful behavior in front of anyone, unless said boasts are about someone else that don't belong to her innermost circle. Which again, mostly encompasses herself, unless she's talking to a customer, naturally. Then said group encompasses her employees... Again.

It is an odd moment to think of things like this, but she really doesn't have any friends.

Then she makes a brief mental grimace as a giggling face, plump and covered by bushy hair, paves its way into her mind, accompanied by burps and the imaginary stench of fermenting beans accompanied by alcohol. For reasons unknown, the image has an ominous feeling to it. As if just thinking about her would summon her, somehow. Fortunately, that's an absolutely ridiculous notion with no connection to reality whatsoever.

"I appreciate your compliment, Miss Kachekiwa, but I am afraid I don't see it that way," she smiles, idly moving her finger in circles around the cup, as she leans forward.

As expected, I suppose, she notes as her smile grows only wider as the remark properly sinks in. Boy, is the look in her eyes priceless now. I wish she had a mirror at hand. Perhaps she shouldn't have said it while the girl was holding the cup; the thing looks like it is about to hit the table and spill everywhere. But for some reason, the girl, who had seemed nigh horrified by the esteemed madam's honed deductive skills, becomes so much more at ease once she realizes her hostess has nothing against carrying arms. Well, women carrying arms, to be precise. Her opinion on boys with swords is another story entirely.

Maybe the item is no sword at all? Maybe she is smuggling something else. But the shape, the thick layers of cloth around whatever it is, leads her to believe it has to be something small.

So, a sword, still the most likely candidate. Then again, there are so many types of swords. It's not like she can name them, herself. She just calls them "long swords", "katanas", "daggers" and "almost spears". It has never been expected of her to bear precise knowledge about blades. However, she does have an inkling of what is underneath that lump.

Leaning in, as to close the gap between the fidgety blond guest and herself, hands placed over her tea, she gesticulates for the girl to come close, as if sharing a secret. "If it makes you feel any better," her smile shrinks, forming a tight o, doe eyes glittering. "I have one too. In my bed room." She tilts her head back, as if gesticulating towards the room in the back of the foyer.

She eases back into her previous position and lifts the cup to her lips, sending the girl a mischievous wink. "Your secret is safe with me."

After this rather confrontational conversation, Tomie knows that they should talk about something more pleasant instead of reasons for tiny girls being forced to carry weapons to travel freely. Oh, perhaps...

"You have traveled a good bit, haven't you? Would you mind giving me the pleasure of detailing what you have seen since we last met?"

...Tomie was really good at surprising and confounding her, wasn't she? At times, Lessa really wasn't sure how to respond to the other at all. Honestly, that was partially the reason she drank the tea more often now as they talked, it helped to get her to calm down and not immediately blurt out something stupid.

The other reason was because it was damn good tea.

"You don't? But..." she trailed off, clearly thinking as she eyed Tomie and realized something. It was hard to realize not everyone was similar to her, that not everyone was far too willing to bast and throw about their status. Or think of themselves as great or anything. Some people were just plain humble, a viewpoint Lessa was slowly coming to appreciate for herself. So the girl merely sighed and shrugged, a smile on her face when she next spoke to Tonie. "Well, alright. I guess there's gonna be no convincing you otherwise on this, huh? So I might as well save myself the effort and not try," the former Shinigami admitted. It just seemed so strange to her that someone wouldn't be prideful of the things they had done; no one could deny that Tomie was a very influential woman around here.

If she was being honest, she was a little uncomfortable right now, what with the way Tomie was leaning forward. The girl was doing her best to keep her confusion on her face, rather than unintentionally reveal any other information she didn't want to. Knowing she carried a sword was fine, but she didn't want everyone to learn she used to be a part of the Gotei, too. Though how anyone would ever tell that from a glance was beyond her...unsure what else to do, she once again busied herself in drinking her tea, keeping her gaze on Tomie all the while.

She felt very awkward right now.

Then she leaned in closer, causing Lessa to arch a brow up as she wondered what Tomie was up to. Ah, just more talking, then? She nodded at what the other had to say, an interested look on her face as Tomie spoke to her. "Ah, I...see," she trailed off, only to nod again when Tomie finally, finally leaned back. Gosh, did she really have to get THAT close? It seemed unnecessary to her, considering the fact that they were completely alone in the room. Did she think someone was listening in or something?

...Did people spy on other people in a tea house?

Dismissing the silly thought, Lessa glanced down at her cup, only to realize she had drank all the tea in it. When in the world had that happened? She supposed she had just gotten so distracted by Tomie speaking that she hadn't even bothered to pay attention to the fact that her cup had been ever so slowly emptying as she drank. "Thanks for that. I really appreciate it," she stated simply to what the woman said next, before pausing at her next question, frowning a little. Not because she didn't want to answer, but because it was a rather large question.

"Nothing much has really happened with me, to be honest. I guess I could explain one of the more interesting experiences I've had since we last met though, if you're up for that."