Tea is truly awful.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on May 30, 2015 23:41:38 GMT -8
"Sayonara!" the last student called, waving as they left their teacher, Shorinaga Miyoshi, in an empty dojo, drenched with sweat. His work as a "master" (he preferred "trainer" to be more humble . . . but also preferred his students to call him sensei) kept him in shape as he worked both his students and himself to the bone.
Still, he had time to dwell on other things. Their accent butchered the word . . . No one even says that, the man bitterly thought to himself. Maybe he should give them a more intensive lesson on Japanese sometime? No, that wasn't his place. He was grateful they at least had the basics down, but the former samurai was used to it at this point. Perhaps he he was too judgmental of them, and that's why he didn't make many friends? No, that couldn't be it. Perhaps he was too uptight all the time . . . maybe he should consider "hanging out" with his current friends.
Friends . . . ? Blinking, Shorinaga returned to his quarters within the dojo to freshen up, constantly glancing at his phone before he picked it up and rifled through his contacts. He even pulled out his reading glasses.
It was no use though, skimming through the contacts multiple times as he recalled the various cases of why he wouldn't contact these people. I don't associate myself with them anymore . . . The raven-haired man would think. These are just my students; I'd rather keep our relationship strictly professional . . . uh, who's this? Oh, just delete them. Hm . . . ? Owen?
Miyoshi's mind wandered back to his encounter with the strange boy. In that crowd where he'd first seen Joakim, his current teammate. It'd been a while . . . he'd told him he'd keep in touch, right? Eyes narrowing, perhaps the boy's schedule was busy? Maybe Shorinaga's own schedule was busy . . . ? After scanning it, he failed to find an excuse to not at least try to contact him.
But wait, should I send a text message . . . or call his phone or . . . e-mail? The man gulped. Wait, is paging still a thing??? Technology didn't mesh well with him; neither did the customs when it came to using them. Staring at Owen's contact information, he blankly hit the phone button and dialed him up. Ach, what am I doing?! When the ringing stopped, Shorinaga flinched. Oooh, it's too late . . . Quickly holding it up to his ear, he slightly hoped for it to be the answering machine.
"Ah, moshi moshi!" That's how the people of today do it, right? Ah wait, it'd been a while, right? What if Owen didn't remember who he was? "It's Shorinaga . . . from that encounter in the crowd."
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Post by quinnquinn on May 31, 2015 5:52:52 GMT -8
Just another day serving the birds. Some had just come back with other keepers, though being his shift he was called to take care of them. He was being a bit absentminded right now. Nothing was pending and he had finished up his work for the moment. He sat nearer the main part of the room, finding some amusement feeding the birds as his time clocked by.
Owen was enjoying himself, till he felt his phone in his sleeve ringing away. He looked at the screen. Shorinaga, it read. The name clicked, but it took a moment. He remembered giving his number out once to a man with a very foreign name. This must have been him.
"Hello, Shorinaga." He called back on the phone. "I remember you. You remember me? Why did you call me?" Some cheeky birds attempted to chirp louder than usual to interrupt the phone call, but were met with Owen giving them the silence gesture before going back to the conversation. "Do you need me?"
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on May 31, 2015 13:23:23 GMT -8
Shorinaga had forgot that Owen had a strange way of talking, and probably even thinking as well. It didn't bother him unless he felt like he misunderstood the boy . . . To be honest, he'd prefer Owen over some of his students, who would run his patience dry.
"Ah, yes, I remember you," the man replied, "no, I called because . . . hrm, are you free? Perhaps you'd allow me to visit the mailroom and show me around?" Shorinaga supposed he had a love-hate relationship with birds. They were graceful and beautiful, yet they could be so cruel as to turn a blind eye to an apprentice in need? His mind wandered elsewhere for a moment until he heard Owen's voice again.
Wedging his phone between his ear and his shoulder, Shorinaga gathered his things while conversing. If Owen was busy, then the man would probably end up wandering off and contemplating death . . . or something along those lines. Perhaps he'd get some coffee? Or sake . . . ?
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Post by quinnquinn on May 31, 2015 23:55:44 GMT -8
"Yes, I'm free." He replied. He remembered the man wanted to see the keeper's room for himself. "You are free to visit. Did you want to visit the birds?" He could hear the man shuffling things around his end of the line.
"Did you want to visit now?" He asked. Owen didn't have any issues with this. He wasn't doing anything right now. It would be something to do to kill the rest of his time on the end of his shift.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 2, 2015 3:37:54 GMT -8
Much to Shorinaga's surprise, the arrangement was possible. "How convenient! I'll be over in . . . an hour if that's fine with you," replied the man. He'd have to freshen up before he showed up anywhere, especially after working up so much of a sweat. "I'll see you then."
After he finished his conversation with Owen, he would gather his belongings and head back to his (hopefully vacant) teams' quarters. Shorinaga would lament the lack of personal bathing quarters before having to go to rinse off in the public one. Coffee-senpai then would go to perhaps get some coffee. Write some haikus. Relax. When the time came around, the Japanese man would head over to the mailroom.
With a strong cup of coffee in hand, he looked around intently. Occasionally, Shorinaga would take sips to make it look like he wasn't looking for Owen.
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Post by quinnquinn on Jun 2, 2015 4:37:03 GMT -8
"That's fine." he replied with a smile in his voice. "See you." He promptly hung up, the birds squawking at him as he did so. He didn't have to attend to them right now, but an hour was a lot of time to kill... he might as well get stuck in some other minor work he'd left lying around. There were bottles to clean up and papers to fill out. He usually took those things back to his room to finish, but why not. He had the time...
A little over an hour later, he'd gotten through perhaps half of the paperwork. He went towards reception to offload what he had finished so far. A little swallow had made its home on Owen's shoulder, and it followed him out of the bird room. The distinct smell of coffee drew his attention, and he soon spotted the man he was supposed to meet. He'd forgotten.
"I forgot." he stated blankly. "I'm sorry I forgot." he dropped off his papers to the people behind the desks and let his long sleeves fall over his arms again. The boy walked over to the man and stood there quietly for a moment.
"Hello, Shorinaga." he said.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 3, 2015 0:27:26 GMT -8
And then the wait ensued. Standing around, observing the entrance, pondering on things, thinking up haikus-- Shorinaga tried to distract himself while he waited intently on Owen. Did the boy forget? He took small sips of his coffee to make it last. If Owen was one of his students he'd-- Ach, but he's not, Shorinaga reminded himself. Blowing his hair, he leaned against the wall. No need to be so hard on others.
The trainer had brought a bag with him with some of his belongings, one of which was a tanto knife that he needed to return to one of his students . . . It was just a knife, but eh, if he was going to wait, he might as well take a look at it. Sitting down and getting comfortable, he set his coffee down and took out the knife . . . Using the cloth he'd wrapped it in, Shorinaga took the blade out of the relatively flashy sheath and observed it closely. I always liked the ones with the grooves . . . I remember having an unokubi . . .
Upon hearing a familiar voice, the pony-tailed man chuckled and put the dagger away. Standing up and dusting himself, Shorinaga smiled politely.
"Owen-san," Shorinaga greeted with a cordial bow. He hummed thoughtfully. Impulsively, the man's hand raised to his chin-- a habit he had when he didn't have his coffee-- and he looked around before picking his coffee off of the floor. Miyoshi had a subtle playful undertone in his voice. "Did you get carried away with work?"
A strong aroma wafted around him as he drank from his coffee.
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Post by quinnquinn on Jun 3, 2015 1:39:05 GMT -8
The man seemed occupied with a knife, though Owen paid it little attention once it was kept away. The man stood up and returned his greeting. He instinctively bowed back without a word.
"Work usually carries me away." He shrugged. "I'm sorry for getting carried away. Did I carry away for long?" He hoped he didn't make the man wait. He was the patient looking sort though, so the boy hoped Shorinaga really was that patient on the inside.
As the man bent down, the swallow on Owen's shoulder chirped and flew over to take a quick inspection. It hopped close to his coffee cup, chirped in Shorinaga's face before hopping back towards Owen. He bent down to pick it up, finding himself distracted by the smell of coffee. The boy squat there for some time, enjoying it.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 3, 2015 2:42:54 GMT -8
Shorinaga had hesitated when picking up his coffee-- the swallow had gotten very close . . . how curious. Perhaps it liked the coffee smell? And then-- oh, it chirped in his face. He wasn't extremely surprised, but he was slightly amused even though he didn't show it. He masked it by drinking his deathly-strong coffee.
"That's good," the older apprentice commented on Owen's statement about getting carried away by work. Better than slacking. He shared his sentiment. "You didn't carry away for too long, no. I don't mind, though. Work is work."
Observing Owen, the samurai noticed he was enjoying the wafts of his coffee. Suddenly, a twinge of hope . . . perhaps he was another coffee lover!? Curiously, he took another thoughtful sip of coffee.
"Do you like coffee, Owen-san?" Shorinaga inquired, "it seems you share an alike reaction to your avian friend."
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Post by quinnquinn on Jun 3, 2015 6:41:40 GMT -8
He appreciated that the man let him off for tardiness. At least he was understanding despite how odd the boy was. Owen liked that about some people. Those who would actually listen to him and at least sympathise a bit. Even if you didn't, he was always reassured to know he was disliked by pure spite alone.
"I like strong tastes. Coffee has a strong taste. Coffee doesn't make me feel sick." Bland things made the boy bored, really. And coffee made him feel peppy, complete opposite to what he was like usually. He took things as they came and there was never much urgency to his actions. Coffee on the other hand, flipped it slightly. "I don't think birds should drink coffee..." He added later, looking at the swallow in his hands, chirping back at him eagerly.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 5, 2015 5:00:08 GMT -8
Shorinaga's face almost lit up with delight. It was a nice surprise, finding someone else who enjoyed coffee. It brought a smile to his face and he nodded in agreement. Although, the bird had good taste, too. "Hmm, I could only wonder what would happen to a bird if it drank coffee . . . " With a pause, he then suggested, "Perhaps we should go to the cafe someday?" It was a strange feeling, but he felt as if Owen could make a decent companion. More than he could say about others, at least.
"Ah, but of course," the older apprentice murmured, shaking his head. A coffee trip could be sorted out later. "Care to show me around?"
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Post by quinnquinn on Jun 5, 2015 6:43:19 GMT -8
"I remember..." Owen perked up a little. "If a bird drank coffee it would die." He said matter-of-factly. "Coffee is not good for birds." The swallow knew better than that. It probably chirped out of disgust for the presence of it, not so much that it was interested. But who knew. Not like Owen understood bird speak anyway.
"Cafe coffee is good." He nodded on agreement. "I won't bring any birds to the cafe." He looked at the swallow perched on his shoulder, contemplating what grim words he said moments earlier.
"What do you want to see?" He took a step towards the birdhouse again, gesturing Shorinaga to follow him. Birds seemed to fly around the place willy nilly, though most were concentrated to only parts of the mail room. Occasionally if you looked up, they would look back at you.
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 12, 2015 0:54:42 GMT -8
". . . Oh." Shorinaga stood and let it skin in before he looked down at his drink and downed the rest of his cup. He wondered if birds disliked the smell or not . . . "Aha, that's probably a good idea. I tried their tea once . . . though, they played a trick on me . . ." Brushing off the rather recent memory, thought for a moment.
"Well . . . anything, really. Everything?" he replied to Owen's question. He was generally curious, and as they entered the birdhouse, Shorinaga was prompted to look upwards at the seemingly endless amount of birds. Shorinaga stared in silence until one suddenly looked back at him. Blinking, he felt a bit conscious. Looking at Owen nervously, the Japanese apprentice's eyebrows furrowed "How often do they tend to . . . assault people with droppings?"
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Post by quinnquinn on Jun 15, 2015 6:42:30 GMT -8
A trick? "What kind of trick? I don't like tricks." He was more observant and wary of such things now, though people never really did that sort of thing anyway. Still didn't stop Owen from being skeptical about others.
"Everything is a lot..." He glanced back to the man and kept walking. "I can show you everything." Birds overhead watched them both. Their keeper had a guest today, a human in their midst. Owen had been around for so long they regarded the boy as one of their own by now.
"They do it when they want a laugh. They also do it when they're mad... When they do it just don't stand underneath." Easy solution for such a small problem. "They did it a lot on me when I started working here."
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Post by haikusaboutcoffee on Jun 17, 2015 6:23:03 GMT -8
Clearing his throat, Shorinaga closed his eyes and recalled the experience. It was the taste of a thousand years of regret, as he recalled. It didn't seem to be what he had ordered, which he hadn't had high expectations for anyway. It was some sort of prank. "They, hrm, swapped my drink for something quite repulsive," the man grumbled, rubbing his chin as he seemed to get the chills from even remembering the incident.
Opening his eyes, he looked at Owen calmly. "If it's too much, I could come back another time?" he suggested. Another chill was sent across his skin . . . those birds had such piercing gazes. They were probably judgmental. Shorinaga's brow shifted with curiosity as Owen answered his question, "Really? They need time to warm up to a person, I assu--"
The man flinched. Looking up a split second later, the teacher realized that there was something dropping down towards him . . . With a quick movement, he watched it splat on the floor in front of him. Shorinaga paled as if he saw his life flash before his eyes. Disgusting . . . His brow now furrowing with concern (and probably paranoia), he watched the birds as they chattered and backed away slowly.
"Well, I've never . . ." Shorinaga murmured, suspicion in his eyes.
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