Nutella
Homoerotic Subtext
3,132 words
Dys | Nell
Bird Watching Adele had a habit of wandering the Tenth Division when she wasn’t occupied with something else. Her home was a beautiful place with rather scenic walking paths and a fascinating lake view. The nekogami hummed rather cheerfully, happy to have a few moments of peace in the division grounds. Such was her enjoyment of the lack of business and concern that she paid no attention to where she was going. There weren’t too many people in the general area at the moment that the feline Mystic could detect, so it was unlikely that she would run into anybody. Ahhh, you infernal creature! If I could take a nice shot with Keeji, I’d have imprisoned you splendidly! Thoroughly preoccupied with her thoughts, the passing of a very flamboyant animal by her feet merely slipped her attention. It was a beautiful peacock, dragging its trail of feathers across the lush emerald grass around the Tenth’s quarters. And equally preoccupied with her own affairs, the ebony-haired shinigami did not see Adele’s coming, focused only on taking a picture of this lovely animal that she chased round and round all over the Tenth’s grounds. With a lovely camera on hand, she crouched low near the bushes, carefully pointing the lens at the peacock whose path was blocked splendidly by a large tree. Unfortunately, the cat eared shinigami managed to bump into someone. When had this person gotten here? A surprised yelp escaped the woman’s lips as soon as she felt someone’s foot on her bum, promptly knocking her face down on the grass. The camera wasn’t that harmed at all, but her position was embarrassing enough to beheld. If Adelaide was there, it could have been a major, major disaster! With that in mind, the woman’s pallid visage turned darker, a beet-colored blush as the heat rose to her ears. No, it can’t be--!! Hiding her purple cat ears under her hair, Adele stood, offering a hand to the shinigami she’d knocked over. “Sorry about that. My name’s Adele, who are you?” Thank goodness! Adele clearly doesn’t know the feeling of rushing relief she felt as she saw the person’s face. An audible sigh of relief escaped her parted lips, accompanied with a little laugh. “That’s perfectly fine, Adele. I--um, it could be worse.” Observing the other woman, Adele tilted her head to the side. “If you say so,” she acquiesced, though she was sure the other shinigami was rather embarrassed judging by the sound of her spiritual energy. Curiosity tempted her to ask the other about it, but the Mystic shrugged it off, not wanting to be rude. “What were you doing in the bushes, anyway... um.. what can I call you?” The nekogami scratched her head sheepishly, “I don’t think I caught your name.” “Oh, sorry. It’s Yuurei. Kamenashi Yuurei, and I was-- IT RAN!” Apparently, the young mystic thought too much of her embarrassment that it slipped her attention that the peacock had already run off to the walking paths. “It took so long to catch too,” she mumbled under her breath, a slight frown visibly etched at the corners of her lips. “Oh well, I was trying to take a picture of the peacock but well, it ran.” With a shrug, the auburn-eyed mystic picked up the camera from the grass and used the hem of her red-violet scarf to wipe off the extra dirt from it. “How about you, what are you doing in the bushes?” Unless you were sent by Adelaide to do some random prank. Shifting uncomfortably, the nekogami secretly hoped that the auburn eyed woman had been too distracted by the bird to see her cat ears. Idly, she remembered that Adelaide had mentioned that Yuurei knew Satoru. How curious. The suspicion in her tone surprised Adele. “Me?” The cat eared Mystic blinked, her eyes turning an innocent blue color. “I was just wandering around really... you said you were trying to take a picture of a peacock?” Her ears twitched beneath her hair, the purple appendages already detecting the faint of some distant trees humming in amusement at a frightened bird. That might have been what the “it” the dark haired woman before her was referring to. “Did it happen to run that way?” Adele asked pointing in the direction the bird had run off in. “I could help you find it, Yuurei-san,” she offered. If she had scared away the creature Kamenashi was trying to find when she tripped over the other Mystic, the least she could do was to help find it. “Yes, I was trying to take a picture and uhhh...” The small Mystic spoke, scratching her head as her eyes searched for the animal. “Honestly I don’t know where it ran, But if you want to help me find it, that’s a-ok!” “Of course I’ll help,” the nekogami smiled at the shorter Mystic. “It went that way,” she pointed. “I can still kinda hear it but it’s getting further away. We should probably hurry if we want to catch up with it.” She started in the direction of the runaway bird. “Come on,” she gestured to the dark haired Mystic to follow her. “You can hear it? That’s amazing!” Yuurei said, promptly standing up and patted her ungraciously dusty shihakusho. Heightened perception? Interesting... “Uh yeah... I can hear lots of things,” Adele looked at the other Mystic. She had forgotten that not everyone could hear as much as she did. “It’s pretty faint, but I’m sure it’ll be easier to hear once we get closer.” Beneath dark hair, a set of purple ears twitched slightly. “This way,” the nekogami instructed casually, changing her direction a bit. “I think we scared the poor thing pretty bad. It sounded terrified.” Was she that scary? The young mystic merely looked up, almost surprised by that. Even though shinigamis are trained to feel beings with their reiatsu, only the astute are able to discern emotions based on the pulse of their reiatsu. “Well, considering the fact that it might be scared, shall we use a different approach then?” “Maybe. Birds are pretty sensitive creatures. They scare easy, startling them can take as little as getting within five feet of them.” The bird, from the sound of its shuffling and soft clucking, had calmed some and it had returned to moseying about. The sound was hard to pick out, but audible if Adele strained her ears. “It’s not scared anymore... but it’s probably best to get the peacock to come to us. Do you know what they like to eat? Once we get closer, we could coax it to come near us with food. Birds like food, I think.” Hazel eyes scanned the area before them, trained on the direction of their quarry. I wonder if birds can sense reiatsu... the nekogami thought curiously. Experimentally, she hummed a tune with her reiatsu. It was inaudible to the physical ear but would give anything with the ability to detect spiritual pressure a sense of ease and perhaps draw it closer. Conveniently, she’d heard a person singing a song called “Cuckoo”. The traditional English folk song might help attract the peacock. “I don’t know what they like, and if I ever do, we probably don’t have some of it nearby,” she said with a shrug. “But I know what might attract it~!” she said to the other woman, beaming with excitement. Pulling out a ribbon from her shihakusho, the woman spun it on her finger, with a mischievous smile etched at the corner of her lips. “Everyone has this, and I suppose you know what it is.” Limply hanging her camera on her arm, the ebony-haired mystic untwirled the ribbon and prepared to tie it on her wrist. “You see, very colorful peacocks are usually male. How about we use this to lure the peacock’s attention?” “That would work quite well. Just make sure to suppress your spiritual pressure, or he’ll definitely catch onto us.” The peacock wasn’t very far. It’s faint tune was more audible to Adele’s purple cat ears. “He’s close by, so I think we should probably do it now.” Grinning, the nekogami disappeared, leaving the image of a female peacock in her place. Her spiritual pressure seemingly vanished as she suppressed it. “Let’s catch a peacock,” she said, grinning with mischief equal to Kamenashi’s albeit hidden by the illusion of Koutaizumai. “So... do we just walk over and hope it notices us or is there some sort of way female peacocks approach male peacocks? I don’t know much about them,” the younger Mystic admitted. “I have completely no idea about that,” Yuurei spoke truthfully, seeing as all she managed to do so far was to scare the poor little thing away. "Oh, well I suppose we can find out. The bird probably shouldn't be able to tell the difference anyway," Adele shrugged. The image of a female peacock that stood in her place preened its feathers. "Well, come on, I'm sure the bird won't hang around forever," the nekogami began walking towards the run away peacock once more. “I agree on that,” Yuurei spoke as she too took another form, but unlike the peafowl Adele shifted into. Tying the ribbon on her wrist, the young mystic’s being became that of a much smaller creature, but with more majesty, namely an albino peafowl, almost glowing with brightness. Unlike the peacock and her comrade who easily camouflaged herself into the flamboyant flora around the Tenth, Yuurei stood out of the crowd, drawing the attention of those surrounding them, namely, the trainees and other visitors who chose to spend their idle time on the mystics’ land. In a swift movement, Yuurei moved towards the peacock, just as Adele did. It already stopped on its tracks, but it would be easier to just foster trust between them. The nekogami looked at the peacock. It was a beautiful creature and the patterns on his illustrious feathers were fascinating. The Adele peahen waddled a little closer, seemingly taken by the male’s flashy appearance. She hesitated. What now? The feline Mystic’s voice resonated in Yuurei’s mind. I don’t really know that much about birds, plants and cats are my specialty. I suppose, perhaps we can draw it towards the Kosui Shinkouteki? It has been reaaaally hard to catch it, but if we can lock it in place with a beautiful arrangement of rocks, maybe we can end up holding it there for a while. How about it~? Sounds good. How do peacocks like their rocks? Adele shuffled over to a few pebbles and picked one up. The illusion of the peahen covering the nekogami appeared to waddle over to the small rock and pick it up with her beak. No idea, but his reactions sure are interesting. The woman transmitted to the neko-now-peacockgami, followed by a giggle. The peacock stopped at its tracks, perhaps more fascinated at the sight of a peahen picking up a rock more than the sight of two peahens waddling around him. With the power of her mind, Yuurei also lifted a rock. However, instead of letting it hover high up in the air, she preferred to let it hover only by an inch or so, sneakily across the emerald blades of grass that surrounded them. Adele inched a little closer to the brilliantly feathered bird, her illusion of a peahen waddling closer. The peacock came a little closer. The nekogami froze. The cat eared girl backed up a bit. The peacock inched forward. I think he's following me, Adele thought to Yuurei. She experimentally moved left; the bird followed. ‘Kawaaaaaaiiiii~!’ Yuurei practically squealed, quite amused at the dynamic of interests between the two birds. ‘Can I snap out of this Koutaizumai now and take pictures? This would be sooooo cute!’ The words were transmitted through Taidan, but the excitement in her voice wasn’t limited to her mind-- her peahen body followed, happily doing a bird dance on a distance so as not to distract them both. Had she been human, she would have been flailing her arms around and going gaga over the camera-- but with her present form, she just can’t. Still, she found it completely hard to resist both of them. So cute! I think so, the nekogami replied, shuffling to the right. The male peacock followed. Adele waddled away, persued by the bird that had just been running from Yuurei. Please hurry, the bird-cat-girl transmitted the message with a hint of worry. She stopped. The male peacock shuffled closer, pausing to look at the Adele-peahen. The birdgami shifted uncomfortably as the animal wandered closer and tried to preen her illusory feathers. The Mystic hopped back and the brightly feathered bird gave her an odd look. ‘Okay, I will~!’ she hurried out of her spot, waddling to the area behind the trees and made her illusion dissipate, now left with the image of her own self. As slowly as she could, the mystic followed the two of them, enjoying as their little fling unfolded in front of her eyes... and her lens. The first image clicked, and though the male peacock seemed to be startled with the slight shutter, it did not stop from following the other shinigami. ‘Oh, you’re both so gorgeous!’ A few more clicks came from Yuurei, taking pictures of the peacock, then Adele, and them together. A few moments later, they had come waddling near the Kosui Shinkouteki, and the woman did not waste the opportunity to take landscape images with them. Finally, the animal unraveled its colorful plumage, in all its majesty before Adele. Oh, what a beautiful sight! Had it been human, she’d think that the peacock was proposing to Adele, a fairly amusing thought that sent the mystic giggling furtively like a gossip-crazed teenager. Surely, this was more than what she intended to do before. Adele waddled rather awkwardly as the male peacock kept trying to preen her. If he figured out she wasn’t really a peahen he’d run away. The Adele peahen hopped around the real bird’s advances, fuffing her feathers at him. Do you have enough- Ah! The peacock pecked the nekogami. Her carefully woven illusion was broken, revealing the feline Mystic. Oh no, she thought to herself. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on who was asked, the brilliant avian creature kept pursuing the Mystic! Adele had forgotten that her reiatsu was playing birdsong, which was probably what was drawing the pretty birdy towards her. She took more pictures, a bit here and a bit there, her giggles resounding on the whole terrain. Yuurei really liked the way this turned out. Who knew that even the animals lived in peaceful coexistence lived with the mystics? Ahh, such is life. This was perhaps one of the reasons why she opted to stay here in the Tenth, despite the reasons pulling her away. “Uh, no, peacock-san, please don’t roost in my hair!” Adele ran from the peacock, who seemed intent on trying to preen his newfound friend. “Yuu-san, help!” The feline shinigami cried, running in circles and hopping to avoid the infernal bird’s beak. Of course, who’d have not enjoyed the scene? Laughing heartily, she took two snaps of the image before pointing towards the peacock. “Hainawa!” Soon, the familiar feel of the rope-like energy lashed out to the peacock, effectively wrapping itself on the animal’s body to restrain it. “We don’t wanna hurt you, but pecking is bad. Bad.” She walked to the peacock, poking it slightly in the beak before taking the rowdy animal on her arms. "Thank you," Adele sighed in relief. Smoothing out her clothes she straightened up. The bird in Yuurei's arms made a disappointed noise, but settled down, realizing it couldn't go anywhere. The peacock chirped a bit and preened a bit of the end of Yuurei's hair almost apologetically. Adele approached, giving the bird a wary look, and smiled. "Did you get enough pictures?" “Oh yes, I totally did!” she spoke with a cheeky grin, holding out the camera for Adele to see. “You can just press the buttons there and see for yourself. It was a pretty set of pictures, and I’m also confident that it totally fulfills the purpose of this random picture hunt. Well, today wasn’t really, really as in totally random, but you get the point. After all, it’s not like we get peacocks waddling around here at an everyday basis.” Adele took the camera and pressed the button to flip through the photos. She nodded as Yuurei explained the non-randomness of the picture hunt. She paused at a picture of her peahen self leaning back as the peacock stuck his beak in her face. "You're a good photagrapher, Yuurei-san," the feline Mystic smiled. “Well, I don’t suppose it’s hard to do when you have equally good models,” she spoke with a jovial laugh, her fingers gently running through the peacock’s colorful plumage. “Then again, the Tenth in itself has a lot of picturesque spots to take pride on. I suppose it’s not really totally hard to accomplish.” With a gentle pat on the animal’s back, she set it free, settling the peacock down on the lush grass, watching it fondly as it rushed back to the bushes. “Would you like to have a copy of the picture?” Adele nodded, "I would like a copy, thanks Yuu-san!" She grinned, her purple cat ears perking up from beneath her hair. Looking after the peacock as it ran off, the nekogami giggled, "I guess our feathered friend doesn't want a picture. Shin-kun sure was quick to leave." “Okay then, I’ll make sure that you have those dandies soon,” she simply smiled at the other mystic, taking back the camera as the animal eventually disappeared from their view. “It has been quite a while, ne? I think I better go back before a certain someone says I keep on skimping on my duties. And you too~” Right about then, the feline Mystic remembered the paperwork on her desk. She had forgotten that as Tenth Seat she'd actually have to look over almost important documents. "Ah! You're right, Yuu-san, I forgot about the paperwork on my desk! I didn't really have much work as Twentieth Seat." Adele flushed with embarrassment at having neglected her duties. "Thanks for reminding me, Yuurei-san, Onee-chan won't be happy if I give her that paper late, I'll see you later; it was nice meeting you," th feline Mystic gave her new acquaintance a wave. "Ja ne!" And with the help of Shunpo, she rushed towards the offices, hoping the stack of work on her desk hadn't grown. Well, that was quick, she simply noted, shrugging before she turned on her heel and headed back towards the quarters. “Only a few more and I’m done~” |
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