Eight Picturesque Views of an Explosion [Bambietta, Izumi]

"I disagree. I think you're very attractive with a lot of natural beauty."

Was all Izumi retorted to her words, the artist keeping close to the substitute's side while thinking about what they were going to eat. Frankly, Izumi did not care that much what she ate. She could live in a box, eat terribly as long as her passion could be done.

An artist had to make sacrifices, right?

"Yeah, use as much of it as you want I guess. I have more tucked away at home to buy my supplies. I should look for new models since I moved to Seireitei, shouldn't I? There's also way less interesting landscape to capture in here."

She sighed, a sound of disappointment. It wasn't like she couldn't go back out to the Rukongai every now and again though right? Ah, that wasn't too bad then.

Bambietta rubbed her head a bit uncomfortably, fully aware that this was the sort of flattery that got everywhere with her. Well...you know, she could maybe think about it... Ah, no, none of that. She really needed to keep on the straight and narrow.

"Right, well... Thanks. For the compliment and for the cash. If you need a model, I can volunteer if you think I've got the look for it."

She was definitely making a terrible decision, but she'd just stay self-aware. It wasn't the end of the world if she went and did a little modeling, it wasn't like she'd never done that before.

"I've seen a few nice spots around here, but they're out of the way. I can show you a couple after we eat."

Now this really did sound like a date, and boy, she hated that.

Was she looking a little flushed? Izumi couldn't tell because her eyes flicked between the passing people, their faces, the environment and her. She was complimenting Bambietta but Izumi was a fickle woman, her attention fluttered from different focuses and so the amount of time she spent staring at Bambietta decreased.

She still peeked though, Bambietta was hot after all.

"Really? Awww, thanks Bambietta, you'll love it. Promise fufufu."

It delighted her a lot that Bambietta had the gutso to go for it, she should reach out to that cute red head captain again and see if she was still up for it, huh? Maybe. She was a bit rough last time.

"Great, I'm excited to see them. So you get around a lot on your time off, huh?"

"Hey, I'll hold you to that if you go saying something like that."

Bambietta grinned a bit at that, tipping her hat in a way she'd gotten used to when she'd worn her old peaked cap. It was a gesture that worked with this wide one she'd started wearing around, and it felt fairly appropriate for this.

"I guess you could say that. I try to get out, socialize, see the sights. This is where I live, it just makes sense to make the most of it."

Of course, she was also doing her best to not think about other things, stay focused on improving, but that didn't really need to come out, now did it? As they arrived at the yakiniku restaurant, Bambietta studied the outside, a bit taken aback by how fancy it looked. Hm. That made sense, she supposed, but it still didn't feel right for this kind of food.

"You can hold me against anything..."

Izumi said muttering something to herself from next to Bambietta, it wasn't quite audiable and by the time she wasn't lingering on the sly comment.

"Mhm, I completed my 320 Views of the Wandering Soul City. One painting that tries to capture the essence of a district and totalling in 320. You know the Rukongai is so huge and there's so many people out there, right?"

The artist wondered just how much Bambietta had explored the Rukongai, a little distracted herself while looking up at the restraunt. Well, food was food.

Bambietta thought she heard something, but she wasn't really sure what it was. Izumi must have had something on her mind, but she wasn't exactly the type to just ask her to repeat it. Pretty weird, you know?

"I've spent a little bit of time out there, but I haven't really been able to get out too much until recently, and the Seireitei is already so big that there's still a lot of food around here I'd like to try."

That was, after all, how she spent most of her free time. She hadn't exactly eaten well in prison, and she'd gotten pretty attached to good food when she got out. With plenty of confidence, Bambietta walked in and asked for a table for two, already pretty impressed at the place's setup. Hm. Low tables, cushions. Looked like they were going really traditional, she liked that, and she took a seat at one side and looked over the menu.

"Hm. Looks like we really do just pick a meat and they do everything else. That's confident."

"I see, well there's beauty in a small world. I'll show you some of the really nice parts of the Rukongai in exchange if you share your Seireitei ones with me. Deal?"

She negotiated with a smirk, a smug attitude at what she viewed as having got the better end of the deal here but that was up to either party to decide how their bounty was worth.

Izumi sat opposite of Bambietta, not because she dismissed sitting next to her. It was just easier to look at her and think about her symmetry and features that she had when they were in front of her face.

"Oh, is that so? What kind of meat do you like?"

She finished with one of her annoying little laughs while she thought about the message between the lines. Ahaha.

"Sure, that works for me. Deal."

Bambietta's face turned just the faintest bit red at that question, if only because it was accompanied by that smug expression while the two of them were already sitting here at lunch. Ugh, this wasn't good for her at all.

"Er... I guess it depends on the mood. I'm good with anything if it's not just trash. I try to only go for good stuff, otherwise it's a waste of time."

Was Bambietta talking about food? Man, she sure hoped so.

"Oh, is that so?"

Izumi's expression remained fixed while she looked away with a sly look, a little thoughtful about the words and deciphering them. Interpreting them how they meant to be or maybe how she wanted them to be. Definitely leaning towards the latter.

"I like meat that you can savour, nice and juicy that doesn't have a dull flavour and is memorable. Well, I guess any meat is good as long as it looks appealing but there's no point in being picky if the best quality isn't sought out."

The artist explained with ambiguous detail as she ran a stray finger over the menu but her eyes were fixed on Bambietta thoughtfully.

"I'd like this one."

She lingered a few seconds longer before she actually looked down and saw what she'd actually selected. Pork. Well that wasn't too bad, it was a good thing she wasn't picky.

They definitely weren't talking about food anymore. Oh, man. Come on, Bambietta, get your head on straight. Just tell her you're not interested, it's easy. Right? But, then again, it'd been a while, and she was cute...

"I think it's always worth having high standards. Only live so long, after all, and I'm not trying to waste my time on things that aren't worth it. Besides, if you're not eating good food it's harder to keep healthy."

That was still the most important thing in Bambietta's head. She had to improve if she wanted to keep from getting dumped unceremoniously from the Gotei, and she still wasn't convinced that she'd avoid going right to the electric chair if she got tossed back to Earth. Or worse.

"That works for me. We can split it."

She was really digging her own grave here, wasn't she?