𝘸𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘴.

    what! red feels his face morph into one of surprise, eyes widening, nostrils flaring at the audacity of his newest enemy. because that’s what the stranger has become– there are, of course, other mangos. but red wants that one. red’s eyebrow twitches with annoyance as he reads the other’s lips; no!

hand outstretched, red points two fingers at the mango, a kido spell building up at his fingertips. the weak seki shoots out quickly to create a little barrier in front of the mango, with the intent to repel the other’s hand if he continues to reach for it. he’s just a man on a mission; failure is unacceptable.“Get your own.” he signs, though it occurs to red after the fact that this other shinigami might not be able to sign.

                “ huh? what do you mean ditching me here? ”

                uncharacteristically enough, goro’s usually lenient expression turns bitter almost. after a sigh, his brows slant downward and his lips purse into a thin line. seiichiro, somehow, has managed to stretch his patience so thin. normally, he’d overlook any sort of shortcomings from his comrade’s part, but this time, he can’t seem to restrain his growing frustration. “ listen, i’m know that you don’t want to stand out, but you’re literally part of the mission, ” he explains, aware that seiichiro’s most definitely in need of another briefing. and while he’s at it, he makes sure to deliver it appropriately. despite the previous letdown, his voice remains steady; smooth almost. “ had you been paying attention, you would‘ve known what i mean. captain kyoraku asked for you specifically. you’re our only way out. ”

red does most of the sixth division’s grocery shopping. it started as a punishment, but it turned out that his unwavering, dead eyed stare could intimidate many a merchant into giving him better deals, if only to keep him from scaring away other customers. 

now, as grey eyes move away from the juicy looking mango he was going to grab, he wonders if that stare might work on another shinigami. only one way to find out. red points to the mango sternly, mission explicit: secure the fruit. with another motion, he jerks his thumb at himself, meaning hopefully clear: mine. 

            a few quiet moments pass before he responds with a slow blink, evidently realizing late that the other man’s attention had been meant for him. unfortunate. he’d meant to blend in with the crowd and get this over with briskly to then wallow in the afternoon sun before moving inside for a follow-up nap. not get stuck in a stare-off with a guy he only marginally remembers seeing around before. “... ?” gaze drifts towards the mango. fair point. fruit goes well with summer days—this one must be just about perfectly ripe, too.

                “ the briefing’s about to come to an end. what do you think of the plan? ” goro’s words hang in the air like ghosts, for it appears that not a single one of them has managed to protrude the thick barrier that is kihara’s concentration. his immediate concern doesn’t become apparent until after he tries to prod seiichi’s flank with his elbow and gaining no response still. the barren stare has him almost nervous. desperate, as the post meeting interviews were just about to begin, he tries to shake him awake, subtly, without seeming too inconspicuous to their superiors. “ seiichiro-kun! … seiichiro-kun! … were you even listening? ” 

as she feels seiichi sidle up beside her, all remnants of distrustful glaring are swept from her face as she turns to him, a soft smile overtaking her face instead. she'd mull on this some other time.... " hello. "

he would admit without caveat that he had yet to fully grasp the intricacies that governed the relationships of one division with another. too little was the time he'd spent as a de facto member of the fifth—even shorter the time he'd concerned himself with this place's politics. still, it's a surprise; to have his captain otherwise so well-liked so scrutinized to the point he almost feels guilty by association when he catches a glimpse of his colleague's baleful stare.

𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐖𝐀𝐒𝐍'𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐒𝐄 𝐃𝐀𝐘𝐒. She wasn’t, but that was only due to her buried history of ‘family business’. She’d also taken a good chunk of change from other officers over the years with these dice, but she liked to think herself flexible in terms of stakes.

❝ I’ve never turned down a pocketed favor. ❞  

            ‘ despite the difference in the methods they might use, the finality is similar, if you ask me. ’ it’s not often that he gets to witness seiichi take initiative so solemnly. especially when it comes to elaborating such sinuous topics. however, kyoraku knows just how much his comrade values mythology, so he stirs the pot just a tad further. ‘ what’s a man without a heart, after all? be it figurative or quite the real thing. ’ he murmurs, his voice echoing unserious disheartenment. a brow is lifted and a smile is shot in seiichi’s direction. ‘ tell me, seiichi-kun, have you ever had your heart stolen? ’

                had the discussion not been laden such heavy undertones, perhaps he would have laughed at seiichi’s manner of describing this particular happenstance. ‘ i don’t see why not. there are many creatures in the world that we have little to no information on. ’ noticing just how easily seiichi immersed himself in this telltale, ( as drifting off mid conversation was not uncommon ) he decides to add more some more fuel to this fire. ‘ have you heard of tsuara onna? she’s oftentimes confused with yuki onna. ’

𝐁𝐄𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐈𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐀𝐍𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐃𝐋𝐘 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐇𝐄𝐑. More often than not, she’d leave it be, but boredom was far more an irritating presence. Easily rectified though, or so she thought. A set of dice were deftly slipped from her shirt to her fingertips as she held them up in offering.

❝ You gamble? ❞  

violent devotion.

Everyone seems to think you are faithless, but the thing is you haven’t yet found someone who will bring you to your knees and make you raise your head in reverence. This world has stopped bringing you joy, you want more of the divine. You want to dedicate your entire existence to someone; you want to make them realize they are not something terrible, make them see just how much beauty they are bringing to this world. You want to be the only one for them, the only one they have chosen to love. There’s a god shaped pit inside of you and only they can fit in it. And what if they choose to walk away? Didn’t I say this was violent devotion?

MICRO STARTER for  @muyuun​

❝ OUCH! Guess that was my bad. I didn’t see ya. ❞