Is This in Stock? [ZENOVIA/URAHARA]

It wasn't a Senkaimon, nor was it a Kumon that opened up in front of Urahara's shop. No, it was just a hole in perfectly straight line that extended ten feet up, then opened ten feet wide to reveal a place that was somewhere else on the Earth. A house with wood floors, walls lined with shelves full of books, and in the center was a rather elderly looking woman that simply hobbled forwards through her portal, waved a hand, and the portal was closed.

It had been a long time since she had been to Karakura, and Zenovia didn't particularly miss it. The city had never really been her schtick. But this place was a little bit out of the way of the stuffy bits of town, and for that she could forgive it. With a gentle rap of her knuckles on the open door, and the sounds of her unsteady footsteps, Zen announced her presence to whoever might be around. Hopefully the owner was one of those people. Zen had a few very important questions to ask him, such as what kind of knick knacks he had, any sort of souvenirs he might sell-

whether or not she could get a copy of his research on the Hogyoku from him-

-and if he accepted long term payments, and if so, what his interest rates were. Okay maybe not that last one but definitely the one before it, but the thought definitely amused her.

"That is a most unique method of transportation you have there, young Miss."

A voice called out from within the shop no sooner than Zenovia has wrapped her knuckles against the threshold. It was soon accompanied by the appearance of the speaker, a man garbed in an assortment of greens and whites and blacks with a bucket hat coloured to match. The hat pulled down so low that his grey eyes barely peered out from beneath it, but his face wore a disarmingly pleasant smile.

"Welcome, welcome, to the Urahara Shop. Owned and operated by the finest purveyor of sweet treats and spiritual tools this side of the Seireitei, or so they say. Oh, do come in. Do you need a hand or are you quite capable of handling yourself?"

His comically over-the-top introduction complete, Kisuke offered the elderly woman a quaint little curtsy and offered out his arm for her to take should she wish. He was hardly one to refuse new clientele, and they rarely came by such excessive and extravagant means.

"Now, how might we help you today? I have some delightful cough sweets on the back shelves... Freshly imported, I swear."

The voice that rang out through the shop caught Zenovia's attention, and her head turned to look over in the man's direction. Ah, there he was. About as goofy looking as she had heard. Truth be told there was some legend to this shop even where she was from and that, along with Urahara's eccentricity, got a chuckle out of her.

"Oh, I'll be fine." She waved off nonchalantly even as she took a step and almost stumbled over. If she didn't have her walking stick that would have been a fall and a few broken bones.

"Ah yes, I'll take a few of those sweets. Truth be told I came for the candy. Word has spread far and wide about Urahara's Famous Candy Shop, after all." Zen joked as she took a few more sluggish, shaky steps into the shop before looking around to see just what was on these shelves. Her inner scientist fueled her curiosity to see just what this man had in stock, assuming she didn't get kicked out of the store on the spot for asking her next question.

"I've heard about a particular candy, one I've been meaning to try for a while now. I hear it's called a Hogyoku? I was wondering if you had any in stock."

One wrinkled hand reached up to push her goofy looking witch hat out of the way of her eyes so she could let this man see the dead serious look in her eyes, even if her lips were curled into an amused smirk from her own stupid jokes.

Kisuke leaned in a little as Zenovia leaned ever so harder on her cane, ready to support her if she needed, but held himself back. There was an aura of frailty to her, certainly, but he could not quite compare it to another elderly woman. It was like this had been enforced upon the poor woman rather than come with the passing of time traditionally.

"Oh, we can certainly put you together a nice little selection. Nothing that will take your teeth out or anything so dangerous, just some sweet treats that might bring a cheeky smile to that face."

As she made mention of a rather unique item, there was not even the slightest visible sign of reaction from the shopkeeper but it was clear that the tone of the conversation had changed significantly. He knew exactly what she was asking about, of course, and these days that was a few more people than probably should in his humble opinion.

"Now where did you go hearing about something like that? It's not the kinda thing that someone has just lying around, and even then it raises more questions than it solves."

Zen felt fully amused upon seeing just how unfazed Urahara was at the mention of something so dangerous. Her hand lowered back to her cane to support herself which in turn lowered the brim of her stupid witch hat back down to the point where it covered her eyes, but not her entertained grin.

"I'm sure you'd like to stop hearing about such a thing, but I'm afraid I have need for something like that. Perhaps not for the reasons I last heard one was used for, but that was also a good long while ago. I'm not familiar with recent events, you see, but I've been around long enough to have heard about an old incident involving a man and his pet Arrancar?"

Of course she was referring to Aizen specifically, but Zen wanted to have a little fun while she was here. The tone would surely continue to shift further downhill until things became totally serious, or at least potentially. Some fun while she could wouldn't do her no harm, and this man seemed content to play along for now. At least until he got tired of her prying.

"I have a little birdie in the Seireitei that told me you might know a thing or two about it?" She tried to explain at least a little bit. "I'm only really looking for one so I can remedy a little problem of mine. You see, I'm having rather awful back pains and I was hoping something like that could help me out."

That was a very lightweight way of describing the numerous curses that quite literally weighed down upon her. Several of them were dedicated to destroying her body, and the rest were simply weights that existed mostly as a fuck you to Zen specifically. A Hogyoku could probably aid her in getting rid of a few, either by function if she recalled correctly, or be simply acting as a fuel source for her powers. Either way, she felt it was something worth investigating.

That polite smile did not falter for a moment as she made her demands of him, or rather her inquiries for the moment. She remained amused and so did he put up the seamless facade of such, she was quite an interesting character after all. There were still many things that he did not know, and her reasoning for seeking such a problematic item was rather threadbare.

"If it is back pains you are having issue with, I would recommend a good masseuse and some time off those sweet little feet. There are ointments too, pills if you would prefer. I can source both and have them delivered to you at the earliest convenience."

There was more to it than that though, he could simply sense as much without her even saying. And what he sensed was a great deal of problems the most of which even he had limited experience of. Perhaps he should ask, but he was not the question master here. If she wanted his help then the information would have to be forthcoming on her end, not the other way around.

"I could offer you some advice perhaps, but it will not provide you with any real guide towards that which you seek. The last Hogyoku I heard of exploded over in Africa a month ago, pretty spectacular show - or so I am told - but now it is no more."

Zen knew she would have had to explain herself more thoroughly from the start, but there was no harm in playing a few games beforehand, right? The man seemed to have enough of a sense of humor to understand as much. But with how unwilling he was to part with that information, she figured an explanation was due to at least attempt to convince him to part with his knowledge.

"Ah, that may be true, but these 'back pains' are a bit unnatural, you see." She spoke with a sigh. "Messing around in the demon realm was my own decision. Despite only being, what... 600 years old, now? I look older than you even though I have reason to believe that is not the case. I am merely looking to remedy the problems that I have caused upon myself. As for how a Hogyoku comes into play, well... My powers are to manipulate the state of matter and energy, both the physical and spiritual kinds. Alchemy, if you will. I cannot use or alter demon magic directly, but I can create tools or objects of power that can. That is how I have been removing the curses I've been afflicted with. A Hogyoku and its source of immense power would do well in fueling said tools, or perhaps the power of one would be enough to remove a curse regardless? I'm most likely misinterpreting what they do, but as I'm sure you can tell with how I'm asking a complete stranger for help, I'm rather limited in terms of options. Asking around isn't that farfetched of an idea at this point."

And that was about the best way to sum it up, Zen thought to herself. It was up to Urahara's discretion as to whether or not he wanted to trust a complete stranger at this point. Hell, if he could somehow magically point her in a better direction, that would be greatly appreciated. Zen wouldn't be picky. She was bothering this man for something she had a feeling he would most likely rather wash his hands of. These things weren't exactly used for the most innocent of purposes, and Zen did just indirectly admit to associating with demons. She just hoped the poor man's sense of humor extended to other definitions of 'humor' as well.