Springs Unwound[Taigakai/Seiko]

"Ohohoh do they now?", he asked. Whatever justification he had, both of them knew it wasn’t as true as she tried to make it seem. He sighed and shook his head with a smile. Seiko, despite being fairly monotone still managed to have a sense of humour.

At her question, Taigakai crossed his arms over each other and leaned back against the wall to think. "Hmmm... Well, I do use senbon sometimes. I'm not sure a sword per se is really my style. Throwing knives maybe? Something light and small that can be thrown while skating is probably the best I can think of... Mmmmmm..." He seemed to be thinking really hard about this. "Maybe if I were to go with something heavier... chains? Maybe?" The flow of chains would certainly add to throwing enemies. "Or a whip?" But could you really imagine this frosty cinnamon roll with a whip?

It seemed that the overall theme he was going off of was something that would fit the movement style of a Toketsu. He figured a rapier may work if they kept to the concept of swords, but nothing ridiculous like a heavy blade.

"So many people these days use some form of weapon, it almost feels strange that I don't. I have a side sword that I've been carrying for a long time now but I've never actually used it." Seiko murmured almost more to herself than to Taigakai as she spun the stick over her hand and lashed at the air with it. "Then again, I do occasionally throw kunai or shuriken at people, it's always more for... Distraction or testing though than actually hurting them." She scratched at her chin and gave a shrug, putting the stick down against the wall.

With that done she seemed to come back to focus and looked at Taigakai, adjusting her glasses slightly. "I could see you using wires or ribbons, would certainly add a certain flair to your attacks and would enable you to conduct lightning through them for additional effects. I will be honest with you however, I find myself wanting to move a bit. Would you like to go shopping now? I've lost the focus needed to do exercises, I've got things I want to note down." She shrugged and gave a sheepish smile, sometimes she was really bad for losing focus on things and wanting to do something that she found more fun... Although she did have a skewed sense of what fun was.

He figured he knew what she meant. Ninja tools were a standard, not anything that seemed signature or unique. Her golems were likely her signature, but that was in terms of jutsu. He gave a shrug. Wires or ribbons? He’d think on that. She may have a point. With wires, he can trap and slice people, electrocuting them if they got tangled up too.

“You know, that’s fair. Stretches can get pretty boring, but it’s always good to do a few each day to maintain flexibility.” He wasn’t going to have her sit and do a million stretches, even he would get bored from that. He glanced over at a clock on the wall. “Probably better to grab stuff now before the stores close anyway.” Though they had a few hours. “I’ll let mom know we’re heading out so she doesn’t worry.” Well, worry too much. With that he jogged out of the room. She could meet up with him at the front door instead of waiting in the studio, they were headed out regardless.

When he came back down, he had a slip of paper with some writing on it. “Groceries.”, he said, waving it a little. He put the paper in a pocket that seemed emptier, and put on his shoes near the front. It was awkward seeing him in something like sneakers most of the time, but that’s usually outside of missions would be when he’d be able to wear something like that.

“So what’s the plans for your lab? The spacing, the stuff?” Real specific questions. “You know like, same layout as the one here or different?” It was a larger space. Was it going to be organised? Cluttered? ...Both?

Seiko nodded along to what Taigakai was saying before gathering up her own things. She headed to the front door to put her shoes and her jacket back on. It had honestly been quite nice just learning stretches from Taigakai, she committed them to memory. She wasn't sure she'd remember to do them every day but if she set aside some time several times a week she was sure she'd still get some benefit from them.

She took her glasses off and cleaned them with a sleeve before putting them back on as Taigakai returned, giving him a small smile. "It's a larger space, admittedly that comes at the cost of my actual living area, there's not much there but it's quite... Cozy... Is that the right word? My lab itself has a lot more space, it's open plan and I'm setting up each wall to be used for different purposes. It's also large enough that I am able to set up a station to properly summon and work on my Golems without... Prying eyes being able to see what I'm doing."

She opened the door for the pair of them and stepped outside, taking a deep breath before she continued. "I'll have one wall dedicated towards working on Drives and seals... That wall will be the most blastproof, I wouldn't want any of my Drives going off and damaging the rest of my things. The third wall will be used for my more esoteric practices, I've got some interesting things planned and I need a space to be able to put them all together." She blinked a few times and shook her head. "Apologies, I got a little carried away there. What about you, do you have any ideas for alterations to your home or things that you'll be changing any time soon?"

"Well.... None of the plans I have really require a large space or a laboratory so.... Probably nothing too major, I don't think.", he said, returning the grin. There was no way to expand their home to have a skating rink either, and he'd rather leave it as it was. It already had some modifications but he didn't have any in mind for any further changes. Even then, he thought that the way it was would give nostalgic value when he was older. Taigakai shrugged.

"Buuuuut, it sounds like you have some super secret projects to work on." Everyone had their secrets sure. Sometimes Taigakai was worried that some of Seiko's secrets would be out of a few lines, morally speaking. He just never really had a chance to catch onto it for that to be anything more than a feeling. Part of him hoped it never really went farther than that. As for himself, he left out something crucial as a secret of his own. A curiosity passed down from a couple generations, but he wasn't sure if he'd tell Seiko about his plan to find the branch of the Toketsu clan that's up north or not. She might be too busy or that might obstruct her project's projects or something.

The two would enter the store, Taigakai grabbing a cart and walking to the produce section first. It helped that it was the closest to the entrance too. "Heyyyyy, Seiko. Have you been eating properly?" For some reason, the tone came out with a slight hint of danger. Though it wasn't unfounded he knew she forgot to eat sometimes and sometimes the things she did eat weren't necessarily healthy or flavourful.

"I can tell you of some of the things I have planned, specifically my Knights if you want to hear about them but there are... Other projects that I am having to keep secret even from family and clan due to the nature of the technology. I'm worried that if other Rikigaku hear about what I have planned then they'll either usurp my technology or copy it and make cheap derivatives." She sneered at that before shaking her head and checking through her pockets for the roll of xel that she had brought with her.

Once they reached the store and Taigakai asked the question, Seiko immediately turned away, a sheepish smile twitching at her lips. "I've mostly been eating noodles as well as some porridge. I forget often to buy things to actually put in them, mind you, but the taste of nothing just means I can pretty ignore what I'm eating." She gave a shrug but she knew that excuse wasn't going to work on Taigakai, she'd probably need to buy food today... Then again, that wasn't always a bad thing.

"I'll need your help to actually pick out the best things. I could look at the nutritional value of everything but that doesn't help if I just... Forget to make it or it becomes too annoying to actually make often." She turned and gave her money over to Taigakai, best just to leave him with that, otherwise she might end up finding some amusing little bits of machinery or circuitry and trying to buy them instead of food.

“You know I’m always interested in your projects.” They were really cool to learn about. Even if he didn’t fully understand all of what she said, he’d give a listen. Some of it was the look on her face and the spark in her eyes when she was able to spill to someone the things that made the gears in her head turn. Sometimes it was just nice to actually share interests, and he understood that.

Though, when it came to her personal nutrition, Taigakai let out a sigh and rubbed the area between his eyebrows. His hand slid up and brushed back his hair, only for it to fall in front again as if it was adamant to be in his face. He knew Seiko was conscious enough that she was a living thing, she just seemed to forget about the whole concept of “living” itself with being so focused on efficiency.

People liked to talk about how she was too smart or a genius or even just a plain robot. But he figured her general struggles of being human was what made her actually a lot dumber than people thought. It wasn’t something totally in her control though, which was probably why he let her off the hook more times than he probably should.

“In the field, that kind of thing may be necessary but for home living, you have to at least spoil yourself with something once in a while.” Cinnamon rolls were the one flavourful thing he knew Seiko would go out of her way of getting, but she needed more exposure to flavours outside of that. At least, that’s what he thought. “There are some recipes that are really simple that can pack a lot of flavour. Like a stew or a soup.”, he said before noticing she was handing him something. Taigakai scratched his head a little but figured she was doing that as a kind of restraint. She had this interest for functional trinkets, and he figured that she’d be more inclined to feed on interests than something that she forgot about frequently.

He took the money and pocketed it, only to give it back to her when she was paying for groceries. “Right, let’s start with produce.”, he said, grabbing her hand and leading her over to a vast array of vegetables and fruits on display. Of course what they’d gather would depend on what Seiko would make for herself, how long they last before rotting, all that stuff. “Any recipes you thought about trying?” He was hoping her answer was yes.

"I remember seeing some books on simple cooking, ones made for people who were just learning. Perhaps I might work with one of them." Seiko said, pursing her lips as she thought on that. She wasn't exactly skilled at cooking but it seemed to be something that could be learned and if it could be learned through study and practice then Seiko could get good at it, very good. It might also help with her medical training now that she thought about it.

She scratched her cheek as they moved over to produce and she picked up a few potatos and carrots, things she had used in nutrient gruels before but the slop didn't exactly keep the flavours, she would need to do something more. "I'll need to pick up some of those books and practice, perhaps you'd like to assist me and test out what I make?" She asked her cousin, it would be good to spend more time with him, more time with people in general... She could practice her emotions around him, he cared, unlike the metal she regularly surrounded herself with...

She pushed those thoughts aside and instead focused on talking food with Taigakai for the rest of the day, she'd do her best to enjoy herself even with boring, mundane things like this.

[End]

"Hm? Oh, yeah of course. I think that would be fun!", Taigakai said. Though, he'd swipe a few spices for her. She probably didn't realise those actually helped flavour a bit more and she could experiment with those a little bit.

Taigakai walked along with Seiko, letting her take the lead most of the time there while grabbing groceries he needed for his household as well. It was good to see this side of Seiko, wanting to try something outside her range of skills. He had a feeling she'd likely end up trying to do things like this on occasion, but he was hoping she'd try to do stuff like this a little more regularly on her own too. Of course, Seiko's parents aside, he'd visit to check up on her and see how she was doing and maybe scold her if she was falling into her old habits that she still struggled to break from.

[End]