Turned Around in the Wrong Neighborhood [Lerna/Meninas]

She paused at that and she ....stared for a moment, eyes widening. She noticed that little....quirk in the woman's voice. And it gave her ....nothing, but now she was .....she didn't know what she was. But hearing her call herself Little=Gamu sent a chill down her spine. The Captain of the division.... her mind drifting back. She smiled, that expression warm. "A human huh? I was a human too before winding up here. Honestly didn't think I'd see the afterlife so soon you know? But well, it is what it is. " She noted, it was......sortof a lie. At times she really did wonder if she was slowly nativizing into a human. But well, it wasn't explicitly a lie.

She didn't have any answers, and the fact of it was..... it probably wasn't what she thought it was. This was probably just some....human girl that had gotten swept up in the war, and gotten more fucked up than usual. There was certainly a lot of people who did. But even if that was the case... maybe she just WANTED this to be the case. Some solace that a mod soul could live a shinigami life somewhat peacefully. But well....what else was there to do?

"Man its getting a bit late in the afternoon. I should probably get something to eat..." She murmured, more to herself than the other woman. She paused, glancing at Meninas before smiling again. "You should come with me. I've been trying a lot of these sereitei foods since I joined up. If you're not busy, of course." She offered lightheartedly.

Lerna quirked a brow a bit at that, something was.... a little sad about how ...empty the girl's voice was when she said that. And she couldn't help but wonder. No, this woman hadn't seemed interested in her in the slightest. Nothing about this strange girl indicated any particular interest, and even more....the second response only told her about the sort of pattern this woman had in her life. "Nah, not really a date. Dates are for someone you want to sleep with, you don't wanna sleep with me do ya?" She asked with a joking chuckle, a pit in her stomach as she could almost feel the fear of 'do you want me to?' coming up. Or some iteration of that. She moved on, quickly, as if to interrupt Meninas answering that particular question.

"It's just a bit of food. It's been a while since I've just hung out with someone. Well.....hung out and not just been bored. ." She conceded, certainly her classmates were.....people to be around. So many of them were in the rukongai though it was a little crazy. All they had to talk about was earth shit, she KNEW about earth shit, she wasn't interested in that generally. All the same, she stood up and smiled, offering her hand to help Meninas up before starting to lead the girl out of the barracks. It would take a bit of ....wandering possibly, but she knew they were at least NEAR one of the little market spots right? Hm.

A pause, glancing toward the woman. "You seemed pretty ready with that answer. Just how many people go asking you for dates?" She wondered, vaguely realizing she had no real idea of what the gender ratio of the woman's division was.

Lerna raised a brow slightly, waiting to hear what the woman had to say, and just like clockwork, she at least managed to shut down that other answer. Though....honestly....it couldn't have been a more suspicious answer to her. None? That was a lie. Even putting aside the fucking creeps she sometimes saw hunkering around soul society, the woman was AT LEAST attractive. And she knew HUMANS well enough to know those pieces of trash would probably jump at an easy sale, and the poor girl, as much as it hurt her to think it, seemed like an easy one. All the same, she put on a fake smile. "Really? That's kinda surprising with your looks. But I guess maybe being in the Research squad does scare some guys." She noted with a light chuckle as they made their way through the barracks. She was still utterly lost... at least until she spotted the Squad Six barracks. Then a little light lit up in her head. AH! That's where she was! A smile promptly spreading across her lips.

She promptly changed direction, now knowing that she was heading toward the market area. She already had a pretty good idea of what SHE wanted but... "Shouldn't be too far. Glad I didn't stray as far as I though I had. So you said Gamu-ko before. Is that your name? Or just a nickname? You can just call me Lerna, Buuuuut you probably would recognize me by my OLD name. I was a bit of a big deal back in my day." She noted with a sly smile. Perking up a bit when she noticed the market section off in the distance. "Hm, you have any preference when it comes to food?"

Lerna quirked a brow slightly at that and tilted her head. The ....specificity of the woman was....catching. "Really? What do people usually do?" She asked, and this time she just....braced herself rather than interrupting the answer.

She did however pause, glancing at her and chuckling softly at her observation. "Nope! Honestly not in the slightest really! Always been bad at that sort of thing I guess, sorry about that." She noted with a light smile, not really letting it bother her in the slightest. Her eyes never leaving the woman, trying to look for ....SOMEthing. A smile. A frown. Just....something that was a glimmer of anything within this woman. Entirely unsure why she was even fixating like this. It was a damn shinigami, even if they used to be a human, so far as she was concerned, they were just food. Food she had to live with these days. But it still bothered her.

"Meninas huh? Meninas....." She got a feel for it, chuckling just a bit before she smirked. "Not often a girl has a name as cute as they are." She chimed. Ignoring the pain she felt in her chest as she .....found herself.....being flirty? Just to try and ...GET something out of this woman emotionally. A smile, a rebuke, anything other than just....observation. She DID ....pause. Well, a liking of certain food was a start she supposed, and she felt some small fabricated hope in her heart. Hm, is that right? Not usually the type to replace dinner with desert but it's not like anyone's gonna yell at us about it. I won't tell anyone if you won't." She smiled, promptly leading the girl to a cart with some displays of some pastries, a few of them seemed sortof fruity. She greeted the vendor with a smile, and then asked them to wait for a moment before turning toward Meninas. "See or smell anything you like?"

Lerna nodded slowly, and ....still felt the sting against words she knew were going to be coming. A little perplexed at the strange mishmash that came from the explanation. So many questions brought up by that, and yet still she couldn't help but feel a stabbing depression in her chest. And an outright disgust at the sort of men she imagined took advantage of the woman in such a way. Right? The question was a hard one to answer.... the woman seemed perfectly fine with it. Did she enjoy it? It still felt like taking advantage to her. It was in the midst of those thoughts that Meninas actually went out of her way to ask her a question.

She paused, briefly surprised at not only the question, but the wording itself, starting to trail off before she actualy laughed slightly, her hand raising up and covering her eyes as she took a moment to just....laugh at the situation, and a particular realization. "No hon, I'm...trying to get to know you. Which... yea! I guess kinda would qualify as a really passive form of interrogation." She chuckled, slowly rubbing her eyes before her hand slid back down to her side, looking at that confused face and smiling.

Feeling a sort of ......appreciation mixed with sadness for the simplicity of the woman. "I'm not really intending to hit on you. I just wanna know more about you. It's what you do when you wanna be friends with someone. Though you don't have to answer any questions you don't want to. I just wanna learn what I can, I suppose. Hope that's alright?" She ventured, now at a full stop, their trip to go get something to eat momentarily forgotten in favor of working through the topic that had been brought up.