damned_institute | Day 28: Crossroader's Bar and Casino

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Day 28: Crossroader's Bar and Casino

[ from here. reserved for Reno. ]

White sneakers gleaming in contrast to the dusty floorboards, Dean approached the bar at a snail's pace, hopelessly immersed in his surroundings. It was a taste of something close to home. He was in his element.

And he loved it.

His face seemed to ache the instant he smiled his first genuine smile of the day. Previous shakiness in his bearing abandoned, he swiveled on a chair to allow his restless eyes the chance to roam the features of the tavern that really weren't as captivating as the hunter found them. His wry expression faded as he glanced disapprovingly at himself. These clothes made him look like some overgrown kid who'd taken a wrong turn on his way to the Nerd Convention.

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Ururu was the only one who missed the look, as the girl was both short and trying to find a way to see over the bar. Finally, she decided the easiest thing to do would be to pull herself up. So she reached up, grabbing the edge of the counter, and with a smooth, easy motion lifted herself so she could see, leaving her small legs dangling as she supported herself fully on her hands.

"Rukia-san is right, Mister." Ururu looked up at the man, the picture of adorable innocence. "I sweep a lot at home, and I miss it. May I please have a broom?"

Edited 2007-11-09 21:39 (UTC)

If the look Mathers gave him bothered him at all he didn't show it. It took an awful lot to offend him even on a bad day. The girls seemed to be doing a fine job of kissing up to the barkeep though. Rukia could be downright charming when she put her mind to it!

"Like the ladies said," he reiterated, smiling sweetly, "just wanted to help out a little. Ururu here is a fine floor-sweeper, oh! And I can mix drinks if you need an extra hand." He shrugged innocently, "And maybe you can help us too in return?"

After a long and careful study of all three, he shrugged and pointed to a broom off in the corner. If the kid wanted to save him the trouble of sweeping up the mess the other two made, he wasn't going to begrudge her. "It's over there, but you can't sit at the bar, got it?"

More people were bursting into the bar and Mathers was left wishing his regulars would come in already. All of these people were patients and couldn't buy a damn thing. Turning back to the customers at hand, Mathers regarded Rukia and Fai carefully. After years at this job, he was pretty good at telling the minors from the adults and as soon as Fai spoke, he knew his age. He set out two bowls of free peanuts and went back to cleaning glasses with the rag at his side. Directing his attention to Rukia, he said, "I'm doing you a favor by not kicking you out seeing as your blond friend here is under-aged, too. And I mix the drinks here - no help needed. What else do you want?"

Rukia leaned one arm on the bar, keeping a careful eye on the barkeep's reactions. He didn't seem to buy their story, but that was fine, since he was at least going along with them for now. He also seemed a little nervous about all the patients in his bar. Which Rukia could understand, given that he surely assumed they were all crazy.

Giving the man an understanding smile, she said, "Thanks, I appreciate it." She poked through the peanut dish until she found one she liked. "Really, all I'd like is a bit of information, if you wouldn't mind. Most of us," she nodded to indicate the other patients, "aren't all that crazy, and being stuck at the Institute day and night can grate on the nerves. Would you happen to know the date, for instance?" Start small, Rukia figured.

Ururu nodded slightly to the man, her face brightening--though it might be hard to tell that without knowing her. She bowed her head politely, offering her grattitude. "Thank you, Mister."

With that, she let herself down again, her arms no more weary for the effort, and moved over to the corner. Leaving Fai-san and Rukia-san to talk to the Bar-san, the girl devoted herself to the chosen task, sweeping with the strokes of an experienced and dedicated sweeper.

Yuuhi was glad that the man had let Ururu at least, do as she pleased. She seemed glad for the task and if Rukia was telling the truth, he supposed it made some kind of sense. The rest, however, didn't seem to make any sense at all.

Under age? He almost wanted to burst with laughter. If the man knew how old he really was... It did catch him off-guard however, and he blinked a few times, no words coming to mind for a moment or two. He'd thought he looked at least a little bit older than Rukia, but maybe he was mistaken. He hadn't exactly gotten any great looks at himself in the mirror as of late.

At least Rukia was off to an alright start. No one knew the date? That did seem suspicious. It meant precious little to him though. "Hmm... well I'm really just wondering if any friends of mine have come visiting the town on their way to the institute," he mentioned, trying to sound a bit wounded that his friends hadn't come to see him yet. "That or any local gossip you might know about. Haha... obviously we don't get out much, so even a little scrap of news is interesting." He shrugged his shoulders innocently.

Mathers snorted as Rukia tried to tell him she wasn't insane and eyed the other customers. Cleaning glasses seemed to be the only real work he'd be doing today. "Sure, you're not crazy - that's why you're locked up there. Nice try."

"Today's Halloween. The decorations all over town might've tipped you off to that one. As for your friends, Blondie, I have no clue. Travelers don't usually stop here on their way up." The man clearly wasn't amused by either Rukia or Fai's questions. At the mention of gossip, he spat into a spittoon hidden beneath the counter. He'd dealt with the gossip-monger of Doyleton before. She heard something happened at his bar once and told the entire town about it before he could stamp the flame out. "You want idle chatter like that, go see Pearl. Damn woman couldn't keep her trap shut even if you glued it that way."

Rukia's lower lip trembled, her eyes widening when the barkeep accused her of being crazy. She didn't think he was the type to fall for a few sniffles, but it had worked before on more surly characters. "It's terrible there," she said quietly, but decided not to play up the sympathy angle too much; he probably wouldn't go for it.

Instead, she asked, "Halloween?" She had heard the word before, but didn't know exactly what it was. "I'm from overseas, sir. I'm afraid I don't know anything about Halloween." There had been lots of pumpkins around the town, and some dummies made to look like people, apparently stuffed with leaves. Rukia couldn't really make sense of what all that meant, though. "What... what is Halloween?" she asked in her most innocent voice.

His mention of Pearl, though, piqued her interest somewhat. Perhaps she could go talk to the woman later...

Ururu only heard snippets of the conversation, her focus mostly on her task. It did make her feel better to sweep something, but only so much. She'd much rather it have been the front of the Urahara Shouten she was sweeping, with Jinta-kun there to goof off and give her noogies.

She was really homesick if she wanted a noogie.

It didn't Ururu take long to get most of the peanuts and dirt swept into a neat pile near the door, where she proceeded to sweep it outside just like she would at home. She made sure she didn't sweep it onto any people, however, instead guiding the dirt into the grass.

When she was finished, she put the broom back in it's corner, and returned to the group she'd come in with, lifting herself up as she'd done before. "I'm finished now, Mister." Ururu had been about to ask if she could help with anything else, when she noticed Rukia-san sniffling beside her. She tilted her head to the side, looking up at the woman with concern. "What's wrong, Rukia-san?"

"Hnn..." he mused as he leaned on the counter. He didn't really want to leave so soon, but they were already being watched like hawks and he didn't fancy he'd get very far if he tucked a bottle of rum under his arm and tried to walk out the door.

He did spot some of the new-comers as they arrived though. One of them he knew for sure! Without any drink to relieve him, he could always make a pest of himself to some of the others. And besides, he hadn't even said hello to the man in person yet!

"She sounds lovely," he replied to Mathers statement about Pearl. If anyone would have heard where the others were, it was probably her.

"I think I'm going to step outside for a minute, alright?" he mentioned to Rukia. "I'll meet you out there when you're finished." He made sure to give Ururu's head a gentle pat as he exited. "Good work, the floor looks wonderful Ururu."

[[Following Luxord out to here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/245151.html?view=18113439#t18113439)]]

With one minor out, that just left the other two. Mathers caught a glimpse of the newest additions to his establishment and sighed. More people who couldn't pay and one who ran out so fast he could have been set on fire. Turning his attention back to Rukia, he frowned - or perhaps he never stopped frowning. It was hard to tell.

"Even overseas nowadays people should know what Halloween is. October thirty-first. Day when all the brats go out and egg people's houses. Usually a good day for business," he said, giving Ururu a look as if to say she wasn't included in the brat group. She'd done a good job of sweeping up the bar and while he was going to have to kick them all out, she earned a place in his good graces for a little while at least. "Used to be a day when the spirits came out, but now it's just a commercial holiday about tooth decay. Give me a minute, have to take care of some other customers."

He set his glasses down and walked down the bar, heading over to keep anyone from potentially stealing anything.

When the barkeep glanced over at the customers entering his establishment, Rukia gave Ururu a tiny wink; she didn't want the girl to worry, after all. Rukia's acting was so good that it could fool nearly anyone!

At the man's explanation of Halloween, Rukia didn't feel much more enlightened. 'Egg houses' and 'tooth decay' didn't really make any sense in the context of a holiday, but many of these Western traditions were just beyond her understanding.

As the man headed down the bar, Rukia grabbed a big handful of peanuts and slid off the bar stool. "C'mon, Ururu," she said, giving the girl a smile. "I'm sure we can find more interesting places than this. Besides, I want to go find Renji." He was still very wounded, and she was worried that he was going to get into trouble without her. Plus, after her conversation with Byakuya, she needed some reassurance.

Ururu as reassured by the wink as she was worried by it; Jinta-kun winked like that when he was about to do something bad. Ururu really didn't want to get in trouble, especially since Bar-san seemed to like her.

But then Rukia-san asked to leave, which didn't make much sense if she were going to play a prank. Ururu wasn't going to complain, however, always one to prefer behaving in the end.

"Okay. Do you know where he is?" The small girl dropped down to the floor, and headed back out towards the street. If Fai-san was still outside, they should see if he wanted to come along.

[To here (http://community.livejournal.com/damned/245151.html?thread=18198943#t18198943)]

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Day 28: Crossroader's Bar and Casino

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