With the Captains suffering casualties and heavy injuries on their side, all hope seemed to be lost... until Shinji Hirako appeared, along with the rest of the former Shinigami. Though the aid of the Vizards certainly helped to draw the battle in their favor, it seemed Aizen's power alone proved too much for them.
Kaki tried her best to ignore Stour's comment - even though she was much calmer now, it was hard to shake the memories of that place. Yeah, she'd survived worse, but she certainly hadn't wanted that. Her pout deepened, she was frowning now. She glanced back to Hotaru every now and again, not wanting to get separated if she could avoid it.
Eventually they came across the candy store, after a few crosswalks and fortunately-timed green lights. Kaki stopped frowning at the store, thinking that she would snag something other than pop rocks this time. They had those funny little cookie sticks that you dipped in frosting and then ate.
She opened the door, Hotaru following closely behind. "The pop rocks were by the counter. I don't believe the cashier can see us."
"We don't have any money," Kaki murmured, "So that's a good thing."
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
Stour noticed Kaki's sulkiness grow deeper as he said she'd survived worse. That was not his intention, but his way with words was still in need of much work. He thought about apologizing, but decided it was better served to not speak a word of it. He simply walked onwards with them, until they finally reached the shop. He stopped for a moment and looked around, noting the other buildings nearby. He was only slow to learn the layout of this place due to his lack of belief that it was his home. But he was well past denial as a perspective on life at this point. He stifled a sigh as the door opened, and he leaned over to see in.
"So, we can get exploding candy. That's pretty interesting, but what else can we get from here? Let's have a feast of strange human snacks!" Stour said with a wide grin, looking at the random assortment of things that were scattered about before him in this treasure trove of treats.
"What's that?" Stour said, pointing to a bottle of cola. "Is that a snack? Does it explode, too?" He stopped himself from asking more questions. He was as curious as a child, and he knew it. So, he decided not to ask the million other questions he wanted to ask about the things in this place.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
"So we can get exploding candy. That's pretty interesting," Stour said as he entered, his smile wide and excited, "but what else can we get from here? Let's have a fast of strange human snacks!"
Hotaru smiled at this idea, and Kaki pursed her lips. She didn't want to take too much stuff. If they took too much they might try to eat it all and if they ate it all she would get sick. Or Hotaru would get sick. And whenever Hotaru got sick, guess who had to take care of her.
The green-haired child sniffed, and then paused. Something smelled good. She drifted off towards the other end of the store where - ah, that's where they were. A few pans of fudge had just been laid out, and Kaki wanted very much to eat some of it. She leaned over, standing on her toes and curling so that she formed a nearly perfect right angle. When her hair fell forward too far, she brushed it back.
"What's that?"
Kaki fell forward, and when she removed her head from the pan of chocolate, not only was it far too warm, it was covered in fudge. Her hands went to her face, and she started to brush the chocolate away. "Ow...yuck...bleh."
"It says cola on the side," Hotaru said nonchalantly, adjusting her arms so the bags of Pop Rocks and Hello Panda stayed in a comfortable stack rather than the massive jumble they had been moments before.
"Is that a snack? Does it explode too?"
"I once heard some humans say that if you mixed Pop Rocks and diet cola they explode," Kaki offered.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"Cola. Hm. Okay," Stour said, continuing to look around. He saw a bag of brightly colored snacks near the cola. They were very red, and apparently warm, because the bag had fire on it. That was neat, that humans had warm food right out of bags. Weird, but neat.
Stour grabbed a bottle of cola, and what he didn't know were extremely spicy snack chips. He walked around, not sure what else to grab, when Kaki pointed out that cola and pop rocks could explode. "The exploding candy makes this 'cola' explode? I told you it was exploding candy, Hotaru. I told you!" Stour grabbed himself a bag of pop rocks and grinned, before asking "Anything else we want?"
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
"Oh!" Kaki chirped, reaching for a bar or two of chocolate she saw down below. She liked chocolate. She also liked sweets in general. But come to think of it, she hadn't eaten much real food since returning to the human world. But that was much harder to snag than a candy bar or bottle of soda - not that she liked soda. The fizzing was weird.
She looked to Hotaru, who carried a massive stack of cookies and candy by now.
"The exploding candy makes this cola explode? I told you it was exploding candy, Hotaru. I told you! Anything else we want?"
Glancing to her sister, Kaki hoped that the answer was no so that they could leave. Instead, Hotaru nodded to Stour's bag of chips. "Those are spicy, Stour-san. Kaki-chan, could you grab a bag of the--"
"Ew," she muttered, sticking out her tongue. "You mean the ones that taste like they've been doused in syrup?"
"I like the taste," Hotaru said smoothly, turning for the door.
"Fuck that shit," Kaki swore, smirking as Hotaru's face flushed.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"So spicy is when they cook in the back. Cool," Stour said, grabbing a bag of fruit snacks and holding them up, staring at them. "Aaaaand I'll take these. What's syrup?"
He stared at the bag still, looking at the different variety of fake fruit flavors that were contained within. He started towards the door, as Kaki swore. He raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I didn't take you for the vulgar type, Kaki," he said, continuing out the door, opening his bag of fruit snacks, and popping one into his mouth. Weird. He wasn't one for indulging in normal food, after all. It was a red one. Cherry, apparently. Reminded him of shinigami souls. He laughed as he thought of that. Shinigami taste like cherries. He thought about mentioning it, but decided that might be a bit inappropriate at the moment.
Our bed becomes a grave before we blow ourselves away!
"Syrup is a thick, sticky liquid that tastes sweet," Hotaru explained, completely unaware of why her sister had tucked her face into her scarf and started shaking. Of course, Kaki was giggling, and trying not to be loud or showy about it. Hotaru had absolutely no idea how wrong that sounded. "Nee-san, do you have something in your eye?"
"No," Kaki said breathlessly, finally lifting her head out of her scarf and craning her neck to see what Stour was eating. It was much easier to not giggle like an idiot when she was trying to figure something out. "No, I'm fine."
"I didn't take you for the vulgar type, Kaki," Stour laughed as he opened his bag of fruit snacks. A scowl crossed the vizard's face.
"Fuck you, you overgrown bug," she repeated, tearing the paper off of a candy bar and nibbling on the end. Of course, she hadn't really sworn that much when she'd been with Szayel. He made it pretty clear he would be irrational enough to hurt her for it when she first woke up. Hotaru, who flushed at her sister's words, didn't know that. Kaki leaned over and stood on her tiptoes, then whispered, "Not that much...but I'm eighty years old, and it's fun to mess with Hotaru sometimes."
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"That sounds delicious!" Stour said, right as Kaki started laughing. He had no idea what she was laughing about, of course, but if he had a few more years experience in the human world he would have been slightly humiliated. Lucky for him, he hadn't, and wasn't. So, he ate another fruit snack. Apple, supposedly. Although, oddly similar to humans. Quite a delicious crisp flavor. Made his mouth water. He eyed someone walking past, and felt his stomach growl, right as Kaki called him an overgrown bug. "Hey. I've been doing really well for a man-eating monster that takes the form of a monster that just eats all the time. I get no acknowledgement of how difficult it is to be a damn vegetarian spider," Stour said with a frown, as his stomach screamed in pain again.
He decided he wasn't going to eat any more apple fruit snacks, ever. On that note, he tucked the fruit snacks away, and popped open his automatically-heating snack chips. It was at that moment, as the first one fell into his mouth, that he realized what Hotaru meant by spicy. Spicy wasn't hot. Spicy was bad. Spicy was very, very bad. He didn't scream, but the horror could be read in his eyes, which were wide and teary. He just randomly stopped walking, no regard for anything. In his mind, he had just made the worst mistake of his life. He dropped the chips on the ground, and crushed them underfoot.
He popped open the cola and took a swig, barely helping the pain. He decided to try the poprocks instead. They helped a little, but not enough, so he instead ate poprocks followed by a quick swig of cola. Suddenly, he remembered that Kaki had told him that that makes you explode. "Uh oh," he said, his eyes even wider than before, though he couldn't feel the pain of the heat anymore. "I think I'm gonna blow up."
Hotaru marveled at how shocked the arrancar seemed as he ate the fruit snacks. His eyes drifted to a random human, and she scowled. Was that why? But Kaki's insult seemed not to go unnoticed, and before Hotaru could apologize for Kaki's rudeness, Stour had taken offense.
"I get no acknowledgement of how difficult it is to be a damn vegetarian spider."
"Eh? No, no, remember? When I woke up I think that was the first thing I said," Kaki explained, throwing her hands up in a would-be defensive way, if not for the candy she struggled to balance somewhere in the crook of her elbow. "And I said it to Xuan. And then you said something..."
Kaki shook her head, not wanting to recall the rest of the visit. It was too late, she already remembered much of that first meeting, but she hid it by chewing on the chocolate bar again. Hotaru's gaze rested on Kaki's shoulders, and the younger sister squirmed under her stare. Hotaru wanted to ask something, but she knew better than to say it with Kaki around.
"Uh oh... I think I'm gonna blow up."
"Stour-san, I do not think so," Hotaru said sternly, her cheeks swelling. "I believe that is only an urban legend. A myth. I could do it as well, if you wanted."
"Then I'll be down a sister," Kaki mumbled.
Character List "Let's eat, Grandma!" "Let's eat Grandma!" Commas save lives.
"I remember. You called Xuan a giant bug. I remarked there were two of us. Luckily for you, only one of us acts like an insect," Stour said with a grin, suddenly the grin disappeared, though, and his eyes got rather wide, and he burped. An epic burp, some may even claim it echoed as it rang out through the valley of buildings around them.
"I guess that was the explosion," He said, with a shrug. And at that, he grabbed another fruit snack. Apple. Threw it on the ground. Cause it was bad. So, he grabbed another. This one was purple. He ate it. It was amazing, it tasted like nothing he had ever experienced before. It tasted like happy. Happy had a flavor, and it was purple. And it was awesome.
"Does purple always taste like happy," he asked, looking at the girls.