Private A Chance Passing [Req. Roku]

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko was enjoying the last day of her break, expecting a letter to come any day now. She made her way through the residential district carrying her groceries home. She was the one cooking tonight, as since they became adults Sumire and Neko had rotated themselves into the rotation to give their poor mom a break from household tasks. She was getting close to the house when she felt the warning sign of the bag breaking, the slipping away from fingers and the tearing noise of the paper. It was almost too late to catch, but she managed to do so with only a few things slipping out of the bag as she did. She placed the bag down and knelt down to grab the loose goods up off the ground mumbling to herself as she did.

She hadn't noticed him, not too far off from where she was. She might have tried not to in the back of her mind, after their last encounter she'd probably be less than enthused trying to pretend to be able to speak around him. Either way, she was busy cleaning the mess off the ground. Too busy to notice that her bottle of vinegar was rolling away slowly from her, its escape making the dinner idea she had almost impossible. She stood up and grabbed her things, heading to the door and fumbling for keys. That's when she noticed him, which naturally made the keys fumble and drop from her hand to the matt below. She swore under her breath and reached down to gran them, realizing in that moment that her vinegar was too fumbled and gone. She let out a groan and quickly tried to grab it up, now looking like a mess as she made her way back to the door, one bag in mouth scrambling to get her keys in.

Her hands were surprisingly shakey, unable to find the correct key for her front door. Sure the pen key, back door, and even the other key were no issue, but the front door key just would not stay in her hand. Eventually she put the bags down at her feet as she managed to slide the key in. A sigh of relief was all she got out before another unfortunate noise occured.*CRACK* the sound of her key snapping in the lock as she twisted it the incorrect way. Now, she was not only panicked about Roku seeing her, but also stuck. outside the hous until Sumire got home. This was just her luck, the last day this sort of thing might happen it did. Of course it did.

 

[Okami Roku]

Mental checklist:

• Walk around and see what normal things normal people are doing
• Get some food
• Do not stand out and be ostracized for being weird
• Don't go up on the roofs for fear of embarrassment
• Do something nice for someone
• Do something nice for myself
• Don't go to the prison
• Get something to eat
• Don't hold hands with strangers
• Don't let people's words bring you down
• Should I get something to eat?

He would pause for a moment as he would weigh the option of eating, as it seemed to pop up three times in his mind.

Am I hungry?

He would look down and pat his stomach while still walking. He hadn't been paying attention and wasn't entirely sure where he was in the game. While he was thinking about hunger, his stomach did not seem to agree. Maybe this was a moment where he was hungry but for a particular type of food. Either way, he couldn't put his finger on it. He could put his foot on it. The 'it' in this context was a bottle rolling across the ground. His foot around step down, with his wandering mind expecting it to be the automatic sensation of 'foot touch ground, replay'. Instead, his left foot would come down upon the rolling glass and cause him to lose his balance slightly. Instead of completely falling on his ass, he would recover, strike a nonsensical pose, hope no one saw him and would turn his attention back to the bottle. Picking it up he would look at it.

"Vinegar? Vine-gar? Vinni-gurh? Do you drink this?"

He had never cooked for himself, so the nuances of ingredients that were things that could have been consumed on their own (like fruits, veggies, meat, cheese, etc.) was lost on him. It looked like a bottle of alcohol but the liquid inside didn't seem to dismiss that this might be of that line of liquids.

Should I drink it?

He would look around, to see if someone had dropped it, and that is when he would notice her.

"Neko..."

The words would fumble out of his mouth and he would just stand frozen for a moment.

"Oh-uh, is this your vine-gar?"

I don't think you said that word correctly.

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko frozen in place, she had literally no where to run off to and couldn't just pretend she didn't hear him. So now she needed to turn and address this awkward, unlikely, situation.

"Hey.. Roku.." she put her bags down and and turned to face him. She had addressed him before she turned, admitting one she'd recognized his voice and two she knew he was there. "Y.. ya that's mine, it's for my pot sticker sauce tonight.. uh .." She held out her hand for the vinegar, "thanks.. umm.. how've.. how've you been?"

She avoided looking his way, the burning sensation already in her cheeks. She felt so stupid in this moment, tripping on her words like some sort of school girl. She was more than capable of a conversation, so why was she stumbling. 'just.. look at him stupid' her mind rang out, and so she did. Her eyes looking to him now, though shakely at best and avoiding eye contact with all her ability. She'd already shown once that she couldn't handle that, so now she needed to avoid it so he was not stuck in that position a second time.

 

[Okami Roku]

He noticed that she seemed to be having trouble looking at him directly.

Should I ask if her eyes are okay... no, that's what ruined our last chat.

"Pot. Sticker. Sauce..."

His head would turn to the side, once more finding himself turned into a confused pup by the vexing words of Neko. He knew what those words all meant separately but had never seen them tossed together.

"Arts and crafts?"

It was an educated guess, one that he would realize after the fact sounded dumb, as you wouldn't use something called 'sauce' for arts and crafts. So he would try and play it cool.

"Ha... kidding, of course, it is... food" he would clearly show that he wasn't kidding, that he wasn't entirely sure what this thing Neko had mentioned was.

Instead, he would approach Neko and hold out the bottle of Vinegar for her to take back, since it was her's and all.

"How. Have. I. Been..."

Surely from the outside looking in it would sound like he had never spoken the language before, yet where last time he was confused about the words paired together, this time he was more at a loss for what to say. He didn't want to lie to her but he also was scared to say the reality.

"Not a lot, basically just lost track of time."

She may not have understood how truly on the nose that was for him.

"How have you been?"

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

Neko's hand gently took the bottle from his, her other fucking hair behind her ear as she finally looked at his face. She was stuck in a moment of wanting to question and wanting to run, but in the end she knew that was never really an option for her.

"So, you've never had.. pot stickers then?"

It was a simple enough question, but it kept him talking and her able to do the same. She had thought for an entire week on what she'd say if she saw him again, the good and bad versions of their next encounter were something she had played in her head a million times. But now that the opportunity was directly in front of her, all she could do was ask him a pointless question in hopes he stayed a little longer. Neko was realizing a thing about herself, one her sister may have both been aware of and had previously warned her about, she wore her heart on her sleeve. Once someone made it over the walls she built in her mind to prevent them from coming in, she was quick to just be.. 'stop he asked a question focus focus'

"I.. I've been busy? I guess you could say the same really I uh ..."

She swallowed her words, feeling her mouth dry as she stumbled trying to find some sort of way to say anything. She just felt lost for words but did not want this moment to run away like the last, anything but that.

"I um .. you know if you aren't.. busy.."

'what am I doing, stop stop stop stop'

"Could.. maybe you could.."

 

[Okami Roku]

"I'm going to be 100 percent honest with you: "pot" and "stickers" do not sound like food on their own, and sound even less like it when put together."

It was less a joke and more of a direct observation, but his tone kept it ambiguous.

She messed with her hair, her eyes darted around, and she was having trouble speaking. She seemed to be in distress. His eyes would scan around the scene and notice the bags on the ground, the bottle he had just collected for her, and the fact that she remained in front of a closed door. He had a general idea, or at least in his mind he did.

"Could I?"

Maybe it was a game.

"Pick up your bags?"

At this point, he was checking off things based on his assumption.

"Get the door for you?"

She did seem to be perturbed by something, he would notice failing to realize it might have been him, and she was halted in front of a door.

"Oh, is the door jammed? Do you need me to kick it in?"

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

"No I um, I was going to ask if you'd like to.. If you're not busy that is, come for.."

She took a deep breath trying her best to maintain some sort of level of composure. She had it bad, truly she did, but she was trying to ignore that and just talk to him. She had run through all the possible scenarios for them meeting again but this wasn't how she had planned it, not even a little. Now she was stuck looking like a mess, and feeling like she was sounding dumb because she couldn't manage to get her words straight.

"You, made a statement when we last left.."

'wait.. why am I..'

"A few actually, and um.. It left me thinking about you. So, I was wondering if you'd like to have some dinner? I have to cook it, but.. I figured it might be a more appropriate thing for me to ask in a sitation where someone else would be present for.. Any way if not I get it and that's fine and ya I mean you're probably busy so that's fine."

Her words fell out of her mouth as she focused her eyes on his once again, just waiting for any sign. Anything at all to show her that she wasn't absolutely making a fool of herself in this situation, and that he had meant what he said that night. Wishful thinking though it was, she couldn't help but to be wishful since that dream she had. It had left her with this understanding that just because she was chasing her dream it didn't mean she needed to give up her life. After all, success isn't success if you have no one to share it with, or something like that.

 

[Okami Roku]

"I think about you a lot too... oh, dinner? I actually had a checklist of things I wanted to do today and I'm fairly certain some form of 'eat food' was on there three times. If you don't mind having me, I'd love to join you!"

This was less ambiguous, minus the starting point, and much more direct. By the time he was fully talking about food, his tone was playful and there was a smile slapped on his face.

"I can't cook myself, so I think it is amazing that you can. Are you good? Are the stick potters your specialty?"

He would approach her, but it was directly to approach her, but more so because he seemed to have been under some assumption that her inviting him in meant that they were about to both enter the home. Instead, he would find himself just now closer to her, his eyes glancing back and forth between the door and her with a dumb smile upon his face.

I wonder if she smells nice

I bet she smells delicious


...

....


"Soooo... do I need to grab the door or your bags? Have I already asked that?"

He had warned her, back on that rooftop, that he was not good at small talk. He was spiraling.

 

[Tanatsu Neko]

She chuckled lightly at his commentary but then paused, "Wait, you've been thinking about me a lot?" Red filled her cheeks a little more.

She stared at him expectantly for a moment before looking back to her door and then to him, "I can cook yes, and I like to think I am good.. as for the pot stickers no, they are a snack to eat while you wait for your dinner. I am making sesame chicken and fried rice from the leftovers, so that's more the actual meal.." She paused and then sighed out, "So.. honest answer here is I sort of panicked seeing you and may have.. broken the key. My sister is supposed to be home, so maybe she can let us in but um.. I don't think she is home just yet. So now you're stuck here waiting with me, since you said yes to dinner. Which means you have plenty of time to elaborate on this thinking thing you've said."

She crossed one arm behind her back and stepped toward him, not too close but enough he could tell she was waiting for him to finish that thought. She was almost swaying with the fact he had said that, at least it wasn't just her. The concept at least meant some of what he had said that night was true.

 

[Kureji]

Okay, so maybe she was eavesdropping. Her little sister is soo flustered! She couldn't help but smile, remembering how she told her that she'll never know if she doesn't take risks. AND she asked the boy out for dinner? Sumire thought to herself. At least her sister can be happy!

And... It seems like the boy is also a shy mess! Sumire giggled to herself. Neko and this boy seem perfect together! Upon hearing her little sister talk about her, she took it as a cue to at least introduce herself. She would jump down from the roof of a nearby building gracefully. But even so, small cracks would form on the ground where her feet landed and sand would settle, despite her slim frame. She would hug her sister and pat her head before looking over at Roku. "Oh hey! You must be Roku! Neko couldn't stop talking about you!" A lie, but maybe she is trying to be Neko's wing woman, if that is the correct term for it. She would extend her hand out for him to shake. If he did, he would realize that despite her taking his hand gently, she is surprisingly strong and that he realizes that she is actually being careful.

She would turn to Neko. "I heard that you broke your key?" She would stick her hand in the lock, as her hand turned ethereal to pull the broken piece out and then she pulled out her own key and unlocked the door. She would hold open the door and hold som of the grocery bags for Neko and Roku to walk in.

(Have permission from Neko to join)